PS 1236 
.B3 T3 
1895 
Copy 1 



Tannhauser. 



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WILLIAM VINCENT BYARS. 










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Class 
Book 



TANNHAUSER 



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A MYSTERY. 

IN TWO PARTS. 



WILLIAM VINCENT 




ST. LOUIS, MO.: 

C. W, Alb AN & Co.; Publishers, 



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TO MY TEACHERS, 

J, B. AND M. J. B. 



d^A' ovre aiyav ovre fi^ aiydv rvxc^r 
ol6v re /xoc rdcd' earl. ■&vr)Toig' ydp yega 
7rop«v, avayKaig" ralad* evel^Evy/uai rdTia';' • 
vagdjjKOTr'krjguTOV 6e d^jjpu/xai Trupor 
Tzriy^v Kh)Traiav, rj SiddaKaXo^ T^X^tjr 
7rd(T.7r PgoToig- Tretprive koI iteyag- irogo-. 
roidcSe iroivag- d/u.Tr?iaicj}/ndTuv t'ivq, 
inracdpcog' SeafioiGc TracaaTievrb' wv. 



FROM 

THE PRESS OF BUXTON & SKINNER, 

ST. LOUIS. 



FOREWORD— THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 

Q DAUGHTER of the Years, we bid thee hail! 
Even we who know thee not, for that thy veil 
Of days unrisen and dark, hides all thy face. 
Comest thou to us with promise of all grace 
And beauty of new life, or with the tears 
And woe of all the past, O Daughter of the Years? 

II. 

We who will never know thee, lift our gaze 

Unto the cloud-wrapped heights of coming days 

With steady eyes, nor cast them down, 

Though all thy hidden face may wear a frown 

For our unworth as heritors of time ; 

Yet even we from every land and clime 

Stretch hands unto thee and make straight thy path 

From out thy dread eternity, though thou be clothed in 

wrath. 
And with a hidden sword, drawn and made bare, 
Keen edged to smite unto the end, nor spare 
Aught of old crime and dear-loved folly, though 
Our hearts' best blood may follow on the blow. 



T ANNE A USER. 



III. 

We wait on thee as dreamers in the night ; 

Though the light shine, with eyes bereft of light; 

Though new gods reign, we worship old gods yet ; 

Debtors of all the years, we pay no debt 

Of love or worship to new gods of love. 

For us, our old gods hold all heavens above. 

Force, with his wedded queen and sister, Fraud, 

Is yet our Jove, our Thunderer and our Lord. 

In lands drenched red with blood and seamed with 

graves, 
With hearts dissembling sullen hate of slaves. 
Or with the pride of Force, made drunken and elate, 
Freemen of God, we fools and slaves ot Fate 
Yield all our birthright of the past eternity, 
Loving our bonds, nor willing to be free. 
Unless with sword of hate we sti'ike the blow. 
And with new wrongs wreak vengeance on the foe ; 
Our foe, and brother, whom we greet and smile, 
And fawn upon in weakness, biding for the while 
The time when Time and Change shall make us strong 
To wreak upon him all the wrath and wrong 
Of unforgotten, ruthless years, when with clenched hand 
He smote us that we might not stand : 
Smote us unto our knees, and as we knelt. 
Humbled beneath the blow his strength had dealt, 
Smote yet again with heavier, deadlier stroke. 
That we through coming time might bear his yoke 
And be his thralls. 



TANNHA USER. 



IV. 

Even so are we who crawl and creep 
Through little lives to little deaths and weep 
Hot, scalding tears that all the stars and skies 
Bend not unto our wills when, blindly wise, ■ 
We from the sun turn ineffectual sight 
And seek for dazzled gaze a solace in the night. 
But thou art stronger, wiser, far than we, 
For all the wisdom of dead time for thee 
Is made alive and full of glorious might 
To turn all man-wrought wrong into heaven's right. 
Thine is the might of centuries whose Chance 
But makes thee mightier mistress of all circumstance. 
Since first the lot of life was cast 
Into the lap of Time, the all-enduring past 
Is thine, and if thou comest to make men free, 
Thine is a future lordlier yet, and years more glorious 
yet to be. 

V. 

We have wrought for thee enshackled ; we have dragged 

a lengthening chain. 
While hell's fires of passion crackled and our hearts 

were seared with pain ; 
We have wrought with blows of iron ; we have smitten 

with sharp steel 
Till hell's flames our souls environ and to hell's lords 

we kneel ; 
Till from the abyss unending, from the bottomless pit of 

hate, 



TANNHA USER. 



God's freemen's cry ascending proclaims them slaves of 

fate. 
With live hate for dead deeds' leaven, with lips blood- 
parched and dry, 
We have gnashed the teeth at heaven, we have shaken 

towards the sky 
Hands clenched and unavailing to change the eternal 

right, 
And, still, with bitter railing, we fill the void of night. 
We have builded a throne and a prison ; we have 

wrought with scaffold and rope. 
We recrucify Truth arisen ; we have set on a lie our hope ; 
We have multiplied chains and crosses, and still for the 

dead lie's sake, 
We have gloried in all our losses and burned live Truth 

at the stake. 
The robes of our Wrong are regal ; we have crowned it 

with royal crown, 
We have cried that its might shall be legal ; that before 

it the Right shall bow down. 
But ever the Truth waxeth living from ashes and dust 

of its past ; 
The flames at our stakes are but giving new strength for 

its triumph at last. 
For ever through all the ages, the work of God's will is 

done ; 
Though the tempest of passion rages, still shines the 

eternal sun. 
The hope in the heart of the poet, the faith in the 

martyr's breast, 



TANNHA USER. 



Shine a light in the dark to show it, to point the way to 

rest. 
Though the night seem ever longer, though they work 

in enduring pain, 
Their love and their hope grow stronger, and their labor 

shall not be vain. 
They have wrought in love and anguish, they have given 

their lives for men, 
Until Truth grows strong though they languish ; until 

freedom shall fail not agen. 
They have called down the fire of heaven, to do the 

work of the slave, 
Till the strength of one is as seven, in the might their 

sacrifice gave. 
They have conquered the flame of the thunder; they 

have bound it with bolts and bars, 
They will smite men's shackles asunder with the power 

that moves God's stars. 
They have looked on the woe of the city, on the fields 

with their labor and dearth : 
They have wrought in God's infinite pity, wherewith he 

hath pitied the earth. 
They have turned the cheek to the smiter, they have 

given men love for hate. 
Till the world with their brightness grows brighter and 

the Truth of them conquers man's fate. 
They have wrought on the scaffold, in prison, they have 

borne Truth's witness in flame. 
By the might of the Truth rearisen, they shall make men 

free in his name. 



10 TANNHA USER. 



VI. 

But thou, O Daughter of dead years and weary hours! 
Comest thou to us with head wreathed round with 

flowers, 
Fragrant and white, whose odors of shed scent 
Breathe harmonies of truth and peace, heaven blent? 
Or comest thou frowning in blood's crimson dressed, 
Against our wrong relentless, vengeful as the rest. 
Thy countless sisters of the centuries flown. 
Whose wings' loud clamor mingles with earth's mioan? 
We know thee not, and yet cry hail to thee, 
For ours the faith that thou wilt make men free. 
Hail, Liberatrix! If thy sword be bare. 
Smite thou unto the end, nor spare 
Aught of old crime and dear-loved folly, though 
Our heart's best blood shall follow on the blow. 

W. V. B. 

KiRKWOOD, Mo. 



PART FIRST. 



ARGUMENT. 



T'ANNHAUSER, being a singer of minnesongs and 
a most sweet player on the harp, most skillful in the 
cunning of music, had, for the love of God and the 
peace of his soul from his minnesins, taken the cross, 
and, with sword and harp withal, had set out for the 
Holy land, to fight as fiercely as need be, for the grave 
of our Blessed Lord of Peace. But being, of the 
Adversary, tempted too near the Hell wherein Queen 
Venus reigneth over all lost beauty and power, his soul 
was seized on hard by the splendor of her face, and he 
was drawn in unto her, despite the warning of the 
Trusty Eckert, a most true spirit, who by the grace of 
the blessed Saint Peter, doth ever keep ward at the 
mouth of that hell, lest harpers and such folk be drawn 
therein. Yet Tannhauser, though Queen Venus had 
most dearly loved him, had power from the blessed 
Spirits of Heaven to escape therefrom, being yet a live 
soul, and not as the dead souls of that Hell. 



TANNHAUSER. 

( The highest Hell, wherein are Queen Venus ana Tannhauser, 
with memories, echoes and voices of spirits.) 

TANNHAUSER. i 

J?8hS?' O Queen of Hell, I came to thee with heart 

Remein- r 11 r i i 

bereththat lUll OI glad SOng, 

he is yet a -.tit-, i , ^ . 

live Soul. With harp for ]oy, with tears for woe, with 

sword to meet the wrong ; 
But harp and sword are useless now ; the fount of tears 

is dried ; 
I live for thee, and but for thee ; forever at thy side 
Thy spell of beauty holds me fast ; thy power is on my 

soul 
To bind me in thy hell with thee, to hold me from the 

goal 
I might else win through pain and woe, through struggle 

and through fears ; 
Take back the joys of hell, O Queen, and give me 

back my tears ! 
i^aveThe"^^ Givc me my harp, give me my sword ; put me 
Queen without thy 2:ate, 

Venustobe m ^^ ,, , . , , 

as other io suffcr all the woes of man: to share the 

live Souls. 

mortal fate. 



u 



T ANNE A USER. 



Part I.] 



SPIRITS OF BEAUTY. 

leaity^' Wc havc taught thee our secrets ; we have 
AgalSst shown thee our power ! 

This wouldst thou surrender for things of an 
hour ? 
In the world whence thou earnest, all beauty must pass ; 
It eludeth the senses with the sand from Time's glass. 
Here, Time is no longer ; here Beauty endures ; 
Through ages eternal, the spirit it lures ; 
From pleasure to pleasure, it guideth the sense ; 
It recks not of whither, it asks not of whence. 
Bow, still, to its worship, for thou art its slave ; 
Thy soul is its guerdon for gifts that it gave. 

TANNHAUSER. 



The Soul 
of the 
Singer 
Craveth 
Peace. 



Bid these, thy slaves, O Queen, I pray thee, 



cease 



They give but beauty to the sense, and my soul 
craveth peace. 



SPIRITS OF POWER. 



I. 



Kr^' In all the world and hell there is no peace, 
Knowie*dge For sorrow of the world and joy of hell. 

Reprove , j J 

"i°»- And they who seek it, seek as fools, not 



well ; 



PART I.] TANNHA USER. 15 

As gods though they be strong, for them is no release ; 

By strength of soul or craft of wit, 

Not one of them attaineth it. 
hi" Mind*** Wouldst thou in battle seek it with the sword ? 
thIwo?id. Or harp it on thy harp when in men's ears 

Is ever noise of steel and voices full of 
tears, 
Fit music for libation ever poured 

From overflowing cup of death and birth. 

To honor the sad mother-goddess, Earth, 
Whose children, living, are but lords or slaves, 
Unworth her love, who scar her breast with graves. 

II. 

NoSg Here in this highest hell, 

the°Heriof Where none save hieh souls dwell, 

Lost ^ 

Beauty and Hcrc is uo chanpfc of lisfht, 

Power. o o ' 

No darkness of the night ; 
No sobbing sound of rain, 
Weeping that life should wane 
In flowers that wax for death. 
No struggle here for breath. 
Falling the soul with pain 
Till from racked flesh it prays release. 
Though soul itself should with the struggle cease. 

III. 

My'sledes" Why would'st thou look upon the deadly sun, 
Death^r^fuu Givcr of all things ill.'' 

of Knowl- ^ 

He^i°' Who quickens but to kill ; 

Whose promise fair when springtime has begun, 



16 TANNHA USER. [PAKT I. 

Is with the ruin of winter all undone ; 

Who in the summer day, 

When, with his pencil ray. 
He paints the flowers in his own wantonness, 

Calleth from the foul earth 

The life of death in birth, 
For pain and pestilence and sore distress. 

Till Earth is wearied with man's moan 

And Heaven's hard vault re-echoeth back 
his groan. 

IV. 

Thou knowest the earth is thus, 

For thou art one of us, 
Who know Heaven false, however fair it seems ; 

Thine is the highest lore 

Of knowledge that no more 
Leaves room for folly or for faith In dreams. 

Thou hast seen the secret springs 

Whence, quickening all things, 
Life flows, to backward ebb that they may die ; 
Thou hast sought truth in hell where is no lie ; 
No faith to fetter with the fear of gods. 
Who break high souls with chastening of their rods ; 
whSf* -^^^ thou art one of them, if gods there be ; 
coiielfthe Their knowledge and their might is all in thee. 

Gods. 

V. 

creTifout Round thcc creative thought can bring 
andt*oDi^- FoHTis fairer than all poets sing; 

iolve into 1.1 1 1 • 

the*wo?k How may desire thy soul distress, 

Thought. When thou, from empty nothingness, 



Part t.] 



TANNHA USER. 



17 



Canst bid to being shapes whose grace 
No earthly limner's brush can trace ; 

Canst fill their veins with throbbing wine 
And fire of passion, strong as thine, 
Till all thou into life hast wrought. 
Has thought responsive to thy thought ? 

DREAMS OF PAPHOS. 



Likewise 
other 
Spirits in 
the Tram 
of Qiieen 
Venus 
Tempt 
him to 
Remain in 
that Hell. 



In glad days of beauty, 
When men for no duty 
Enshackled the soul ; 

Where flowers are fairest 
And sunshine the rarest 

Where purple waves roll 
In love on the beaches 
And kiss the white reaches 

Of amorous sand ; 

Where breezes, spice-laden. 
Wooed many a maiden. 

In Paphian land ; 

There Love had her dwelling 
'Mid buds ever swelling 

To burst into bloom. 

That they might dispense her. 
As incense from censer. 

Their sweetest perfume ; 

Where life, to the living. 
Stinted not, in the giving, 

The joy most divine, 



18 



T ANNE A USER. 



[Paet I. 



Bringing 
to him 
Visions 
Most Fair 
and Love- 
worthy. 



And More- 
over 
Moving 
hira to 
Shame of 
the Blessed 
Lord of 
Light, as 
being 
Painful 
and of Low 
Estate. 



We saw the lithe dances, 
And caught the bright glances 

Of maids at her shrine. 

No vestments dissembled 
Soft bosoms that trembled 

As tremble her doves ; 

With shapely limbs scorning 
All other adorning 

Than Nature's and Love's, 

To the goddess of pleasure, 
They brought choicest treasure. 

Each maiden and boy, 

Of love-sighs and flowers. 
To fill the bright hours 

With worship of joy. 

Now worship of Sadness, 
Doth banish all gladness ; 

Earth's bright gods are dead ; 
With service unpleasant, 
Men kneel to a peasant 

With thorns on his head. 



TANNHAUSER. 



rie Scorn 
eth Them 



Ye are dead souls in formless nothingness, 
The husks and shells of bitter joys outworn 
Shadows of selves, by Death in mercy torn 
From painful bodies ye did sore distress ; 
And can ye lead a living soul to light 
When light for you is darkness of Death's night? 



PABT I.] 



TANNHAUSER. ^^ 



fo°ReSn Shall I, yet living, give to you my life ; 

a live Soul. Wastliig my soul to fill you with vain breath, 

When ye are things inane of hell and death. 
Whose every whisper is with falsehood rife ? 

My soul is weary of you, lest I should die, 

Losing all life, to live as ye, a lie. 



SPIRITS OF BEAUTY. 



He Puts Alas, thy voice is a mighty woe 

Them in t J i r • J 

Heu ir* Of some sad god with strength of rum, and 

Destroyed , 

of him. sound 

As though fair hell, to its remotest bound, 

Should topple at thy speech to overthrow. 



TANNHAUSER. 



ShQue"n O Queen, thou wert a goddess! I adjure 
Venus by ^jj ^^^^^ j^^^j^ y^^^^ '^^ ^^i^^ divinc and pure, 

G^Sd. To be as though it were alive again. 

That thou mayest know and feel, as I, the pain 

Of life among charred ruins of outburned lives. 

The food whereon Death waxeth strong and thrives 

In power o'er souls, born, even as I, 

To conquer Death and struggle to the sky. 

Have I not given thee much? Aye, one there was on 

earth. 
Glad as the song of birds at Spring's first birth. 
Tender and true of heart, with such deep eyes 
My gaze was lost in them as in deep skies. 
So well she loved me, she herself forgot; 



20 TANNHAUSER. [PAKT I. 

If but I might be happy, caring not • 

How ill herself might fare. And did jl not forget, 

Forsake her as a thing imworth regret. 

When first I saw thy splendor ; when thy might 

O'ercame my soul with all thy beauty's blight, 

Till all my strength was weak and, for desire, 

My hand forgot its cunning of the lyre ? 

VOICES FROM ABOVE. 

And Hear- Alas, for all the harper race 

Hc^aiiy Who Stray too near the mournful place 

Voices. , 

Oi magic power ! 
The beauty they in dreams may see 
Shall ever still before them flee ; 
The joy of it is misery 

In waking hour. 
All glad high songs they might have sung 
Are tuneless on the silent tongue 

And pulseless lyre ; 
For Truth alone can lend to song, 

The might to conquer and be strong ; I 

They who forget or do her wrong, • j 

Shall lack her fire. J 

Call thou on Truth and e'en in hell \ 

Her might is mightier than its spell. j 

All visions vain ■ 

Her voice in song shall put to flight ; 
If thou canst strike Truth's harp aright, 
Then shall thy soul, in hell's despite. 

Be free again. 



Part i,] TANNHAUSER. 21 



TANNHAUSER. 

ShTr'ifth: Hear my prayer, O Truth eternal ! 
fngupVs Break with thy might the spell infernal ; 

Harp, call- . , , 

^htoMind Let whisper of thy voice immortal 
silnwith Unseal hell's adamantine portal 
loui^s And set me free ; 

Vision. 

Then shall my harp for thee be strung ; 
No song to it shall e'er be sung 
Except for thee. 
Fair Truth, have I not wandered far, 

E'en to hell's gate in quest of thee? 

I have heard thy voice in murmuring of the sea ; 
I have seen thy glance in light of utmost star ; 

Seen sudden glories of thy hair 

Flash splendid in the lightning's glare ; 

Seen thy bright blush upon the sky at morn 

When from still night the bustling day is born, 
I have felt thy terrors on the mountain side, 

When crashed the dread lawine far down below, 

In masses of white ruin, sublimity of woe ! 
I have heard thy whispers where still waters glide. 

In forest deep in summer time. 

Striving to catch the music of their rhyme. 

That I might harp it for thy song ; 

But ever still my note would do thee wrong. 
I have watched for thee when roses were in bloom. 

When all the world was glad with gladness of the 

spring; 
I have seen thee glancing on some bright bird's wing ; 



22 TANNHA USER. [PART I. 

I have caught thy breath in every flower's perfume ; 

And I have sought to grasp thy form 

In dread magnificence of storm ; 

And I have trembled at thy might 

When trembled earth, as with a weak child's fright, 
In mighty throe of earthquake, when the hills 

Were moved and smoked for terror of thy name, 

Lest all the world consume in that fierce flame 
Wherewith thou quickenest hell's lost souls with fire 
that kills. 

Leave me not here till thou dost come in dread. 

With levin light in darkness of the dead. 

To give for joy of lies the woe of truth ; 

I pray thee for thy mercy and thy ruth ! 
Ah, couldst thou come to me as when some singing star 

Salutes the morning with its still small voice. 

Bidding all life awaken and rejoice 
In the glad melody of that lyre afar. 

Whose strings are sunbeams for thy hand to play 

In silent rythm of the living day. 
When Spring to life and gladness, calleth from their 
sleep 

All things that seem to die when winter time 

Giveth a pause in Nature's cadenced rhyme 
That we its symphony may better keep ! 
Kno^eth I know that thou art Beauty, but mine eyes 
Have seen thee only blindedwise ; 
I have heard thy voice, but it escaped my ears 
And left my soul in bitterness of tears. 



[PART I. TANNHAUSEE. 23 



Ha?p^l -^h, be thou Love and Pity I for my lyre 
ofHeTi! Hath not, for charm of hell, one living 

string ; 
I know thee not : I cannot sing 
For ashes in a soul where once was fire. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

venu" Wouldst thou hear truth, and wouldst thou 

Rebuketh i . , ■, 

him with a spcak it hcrc 

Dark ^ 

Saying. Where all dead souls would quake to hear 

And lose all joy of death for terror of its name, 

Lest they should waste in it as in consuming flame ? 

Nay, seek it not ! for even I, afraid, 

Even I, a goddess born, to 'scape its dread. 

Have left glad, living earth to rule these dead. 

^yeth'to What though thy harp be silent ? Do not harps 

Comfort -1 1 

him with abound 

Echoes of 

such Sweet Xo fill mcn's cars with clamor of sweet sound 

Sounds of 

Dead Yeans ^j^ j^^jj rc-cchoeth with the symphony? 

Men-r All these are mine and these shall sound for 

Souls. 

thee. 
Keep silent thou, and listen! Be content 
If all their music in thy soul be blent. 



TANNHAUSER. 

hfa^onhe Then let me hear a hymn of days when man 

Love of the j j 

Old, Dead and SfOd 

Gods. 

Together thy fair land of beauty trod ; 
When, seeing the gods as equals, face to face, 
Men learned of them their wisdom and their grace. 



24 TANKHA USER. iPart L 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Thou chief of Titans whose unconquered mind 
No chains of Fate or Caucasus confined, 
Speak in this soul with voice of love and praise 
To that high God who ruleth men throughout all length 
of days! 

EPIMETHEUS. 

meth^S' Most stern, most mysterious Power! Thou 

Affrighteth ^^g^ ^11 

The universe, be it for good or for ill ! 

Ananke, men named thee in days long gone by. 

As god of all gods, almighty, most high ; 

Black night bowed before thee, heaven, too, owned thy 

sway, 
Jove's temples have crumbled; thee, men still obey! 

Savage, unorable, implacable, cruel. 

Whatever men name thee, thou still art the same ; 
Vain prayers of weak mortals on thine altars for fuel, 

Send aspiring unto thee an impotent flame ; 
Moira or Erinnys, live gods, or dead Nature, 

Ye have might o'er men still though your names 
they deny ; 
All the tears that are shed on the earth will not sate you : 

Unchangeable still, though men kneel or defy! 

TANNHAUSER. 

Sfvlrear Let ccasc ! This is a hymn of fear! 

It was a song of love I thought to hear. 



PART I.] 



TAKKHA USER. 



25 



Queen 

Venus 
Answereth 
Darkly, 
and Evok- 
eth an 
Echo of 
Dead Joy. 



QUEEN VENUS. 

Fear is ever born of love, and chief 

Among dead Love's sweet singers is live Grief. 

But Love hath joy before its fear, 

And all joy's echoes, too, are here. 



The Ghost 

of the Old 

Man 

Anacreon 

Would 

Charm 

him with 

Dead 

Melody. 



AN ECHO OF TEOS. 2 

"I fani would tell of Power's throne ; 

Of learning, too, I fain would sing; 
But my lyre has love alone — 

Love alone, on every string. 
Once on a time, I changed the string; 

On another lyre I bound it ; 
Immortal labors I did sing ; 

But ' love ' the lyre resounded. 
Henceforth, ye heroes all, farewell ! 
Your lofty deeds I may not tell ; 
Naught in my lyre but love doth dwell." 



TANNHAUSER. 



But he 
Scorneth it. 



Why set sweet music to vain words ? 

I better love the notes the mating birds, 
Who know not skill of verse or rhyme, 
Sing wordless, in their nesting time 
To make their love and labor glad. 
I would hear truer music. This is sad 
With sadness of forgetfulness 
Of nobler things and joys that bless. 



26 TANNHAUSER. [PABT 1. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

venu?"^^° Scornest thou thus the sweetest lyre 
Sweeter That cver tempted to desh-e ? 

Echoes 

from the Then listeu to the stronger voice 

Years of *=* 

theDead r^^idit bade the Latlan hills rejoice, 

When warmth of sun and Zephyr's breath 
Brought sweet, sad thoughts of love and death. 



He Heareth 
Far and 
Faint the 



AN ECHO OF PRENESTE. 2 

' ' Sharp winter melts in change of Spring and 
MuSVof^a West wind blowing ; 

Soul in Again the sail swells on the vernal seas. 

Prison. o 

The plowman leaves the fire ; and 'prisoned 
herds are lowing. 
For frost no more makes hoar the wind-swept leas. 
The modest moon looks down while Love leads on the 
dances ; 
With lissome Grace the nymphs join hands again ; 
Their changing feet fall light and fleet, while far off 
glances 
The flickering flame of --^^tna on the plain. 
Now 'mid the sheen of glossy locks, let myrtle green in 
leafy fillet 
Mix with the flowers that spring on the freed plain ; 
And for the woodland Faun, on bosky lawn, as he may 
will it. 
Let blood of lamb or kid the verdure stain. 

With the same force of foot, pale Death the palace portal 

Strikes as he strikes the peasant's humble door; 
O happy friend ! let hope be brief since we are mortal ; 



Part i.] TANNHAUSER. 27 

Since night and all night's ghosts, when life is o'er, 
Await us in the narrow home where once descending 

No more we cast the lot as lords of wine ; 
Though all hearts glow for red and snow on youth's 
cheek blending. 

No fire of love will warm again the ice of thine." 

QUEEN VENUS. 

^^^^° Ah me, that music's sweetest strain 

Mourneth -» «- , i . . 

torthePain May uot awakc except m pam 

Music. Of some high heart, made sad with Fate ; 

With bitterness of things unseen and burdening hate 

Of some sad god whose anger pitiless, 

On every soul he chooseth most to bless, 

Layeth a triple curse that in its gladdest hour 

It still may feel his might for sorrow of his power. 

SPIRITS OF THE SHADOW. 2 

spi?i?s^of He hath the skill high souls to fashion ; 
sp^eak* ^"^ He giveth them life with breath of his breath, 
Sd^Timl '^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ them is a life-long passion, 
And the end thereof a passion of death. 

He afflicteth them with his sore affliction 

Till they strew with ashes the bowed down head ; 

With rending of garments and malediction 
They curse deep their day as a day of dread. 

They curse that dawn of day when wailing 
Told the story sad of a child new born ; 

They curse that night with bitterest railing 
When Love gave Life to Death for a scorn. 



28 TANNHA USER. [PART I. 

They curse its light with Death's dark shadow; 

They curse its stars with all their tears ; 
That the day than all days may be sadder ; 

That the night be blotted from all the years. 

Why are they born with sound of crying ? 

What god, of all, doth such sound please? 
When all their life is one long dying. 

Why are babes taken on the knees ? 

Why are they nursed at breasts of mothers 
Who bear them, full of pain and fears, 

Since the end of each is as the others ? 
They come and go with noise of tears. 

Ah, give high souls a higher measure 

Of life to live, of death to die ! 
They long for death as for hid treasure 

That they at last in peace may lie. 

With kings who make themselves waste places ; 

With chiefs who boast them of their gold, 
And precious things, wherein no grace is 

For limbs whereon wan Death lays hold. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

§^^^"2 If thou wouldst live again this is the end. 

the mISic- The power of Fate thou canst not bend. 

Fate over- Thousfh thou wert high of heart as he whose 

coming ® *^ 

Blirts. Strain 

Hath told thee that all life is vain ; 
That thou art shadow and a little dust. 



Part i.] TANNHAUSER. 29 

Thou hast heard the warning. Wilt thou trust 
Thy strength where striving is of no avail ? 
Where highest life, as lowest, still must fail? 

TANNHAUSER. 

Ko?*'' Dust and shadow ! Is that all 

Eternity may lend to time ? 
May not life to us who live 
Some more cheering token give ? 

Promise dawn at evening chime ? 
Returning day when shadows fall ? 

Dust and shadow ! Must we pass, 

As the breeze that sighs and sleeps ? 
Dust rendered unto dust again, 
Shadows, passing on the plain, 

From the cloud above that sweeps 
Between the sunshine and the grass? 

Dust and shadow ! Then the wise 

Are but as the poorest fools. 
If a common, endless grave. 
Hide the coward and the brave, 

What avails the lore of schools ? 
What avails each high emprize ? 

^h hS'"^*" Dust and shadow is not man ; 
strength Couragc high lives past the grave. 

Dark^^ Manhood's might, though robbed of breath, 

Overcomes and conquers death ; 
Eternity is for the brave, 
Who foremost fight and lead the van. 



80 TANNHAUSER. [PARTI. 



QUEEN VENUS. 

Rf5iov?th m answerest thou in song as though J 

hL?/of°"^ Thou wert some savage skald in land of snow, 

Heart and -wit-i 'iiii -ir ^•l• ii-i 

Y^^ ..,. Where men spill blood for life, and drink sad 

Against the ^ ' 

S*'' wine 

From death-head cups that they may be divine. 

Mounting above from fields of slaughtered foes 

To riot with gods who heed not widows' woes. 

Doth hell for all thy might of manhood quake } 

Seest thou the airiest of its pageants shake 

For thy brave words .^^ I tell thee, nay! 

Thy might is fleeting as thy day. 

De'a(f pS Wouldst thou hear other harps.? Philosophy 

osophy. j^g highest strain shall sound for thee. 

TANNHAUSER. 

From the bottomless pit of the years long fled. 

Where all life is shut in its prisoning past ; 

Where souls are shadows by spent thoughts cast, 
Call the strongest voice of all thy dead. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

There was one who, in soul strength, matched his might 

with the Fates ; 
Whose life, in its span length, made mock of hell's 



gates. 



Thou great one, I call thee ! 

Be thou swift to obey ; 
Let chains that enthrall thee, 

At my spell fall away. 
From thick fume of the bath, 



PAKT I.] TANNHAUSER. 31 

Where thy life ebbed red, 
When thy master's fell wrath 

Set its doom on thy head, 
Rise thou in thy soul might. 

If soul thou hast still ; 
From gloom of thy life's night 

Appear at my will ! 
Thou slave of Rome's tyrant, 

Be thou slave of my spell ! 
Rise, an echo, aspirant, 

From the depths of thy hell. 

AN ECHO OF THE VOID. 2 

Heareth ^ comc, a voice from Time's abysses, 
toevoid.^ Where days and years and lives outworn 
Lie dead and soulless, overborne 
By Fate that conquers, chance that misses. 
What charm of love, what spell of kisses 
May knit the thread by Fate's shears shorn, 
Or quicken shadows from light torn ? 
I know not truth unless truth this is : 

Death stayeth not for song or prayer. 
Lives pass as odours of shed scent, 
Breathed vain on the unsentient air ; 
Or as some star's ray, quickly blent 
In gloom of night, stern gods have sent, 
A shrouding sheet for all things fair. 

Think ye 'tis true or but a tale, 

Fabled the timid to deceive 

That there is pain for spectres pale ? 



32 TANNHA USER. [PART I. 

When shadows once their substance leave, 
When o'er their dead wan widows grieve, 
Doth love or grief the dust avail ? 

When to the pyre the soul of pain 

Is once committed for surcease 

Of fruitless struggle, is it vain 

To grope in nothingness for peace ? 

Hath captive misery no release ? 

Doth aught beside a dream remain ? 

Between the flaming climes of sunset, 

And radiant lands of morning glow. 

Where'er the shore its circling tides fret. 

In land of sun or land of snow, 

All is a dream in vainest show ; 

All pays to Time the tribute debt. 

Below the sunset and the day-dawn 
The underworld lies void and vast ; 
The lord of suns and cycles gone. 
Makes here a grave for ages past ; 
Here come all lives and dreams at last, 
Shent life's pale shadows, lost, forlorn. 

Wide through the heavens the clouds are driven 

Before the wild wind's rending might; 

The pyre's smoke-wreaths are torn and riven; 

In ashes fail the flame and light ; 

So passes into endless night 

The little life the gods have given. 

Then Hope no longer feeds Desire ; 

The fearful cease from all their fears ; 



Pakt 1.] TANNHA USER. 33 

Life is the blown smoke of the pyre, 
And death, the ending of life's tears. 
The fulfilled measure of all years. 
The silence of the unstrung lyre. 

XIpi?* What profiteth the weak endeavor 
their "'^ ^' For life beyond the cumbering: clay? 

Oblivion. i i i r 

For lite and death are one forever. 
And one the birth hour with death's day. 
Chaos and Time still hold their sway. 
And from your graves ye rise up never. 

Vain truth, vain hope, the things ye deem 
Of new death for the dead to die ; 
Of new life brighter than the gleam 
Of the sun's gold in evening sky. 
Though ye smite hpnvpp wij;]^ bJtJr'' cry, 
Death is but slee^(?^^S^f$^(J§sj 

Yeiineth This IS but tritojof dead men.and dea^ jfods ! 

The peasant l^i'^^whjSr weary, plpd^ 
Behind the plow, upturninj^ 
Teeming with life for never-ending birth, 
Knoweth better truth than this ! 
The noise of all thy harps is sore amiss, 
Grievous to living souls who would still live ! 
Canst thou sick hearts no better comfort give } 
Hast thou no spell of power 
For solace, in the hour. 
Quick souls and dead shall feel the might 



U TANNHAUSER. [PAKT I. 



mffhS*'"' Of Truth's voice, calling to the light, 

merein is Wltli trumpct iiotc of drcacl for all the falsely 

all Life. . . 

fair ? 
Hast thou no voice of song for Him whose care 

leaven and lo 

QUEEN VENUS. 



Sustains the highest heaven and lowest hell? 



9en^" I know not if so be thou askest w^ell. 
noToMt.' All gods I knew are dead and overpast ; 
And I remain alone, the saddest and the last; 
But thou shalt hear the wisdom of the earth. 
When it was strong and freshest from its birth ; 
And, hearing, know the teacher's voice and skill. 
Earth's masters do obey and follow still. 

TANNHAUSER. 

wSuid^ear Though all thy love and lore be but as vain 

the Strong- , 

ostofher regi'et 

Spirits. And weary hopelessness, thy charm hath yet 

Its might to bind me still to be thy thrall 

If of all spirits which obey thy call. 

There be but one with power to set at rest 

The living pain that in each human breast 

Burns as a flame of heaven's consuming fire. 

Turning to ashes of satiate desire. 

All charms of thy sad beauty. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

No charm is mine 
Save love that gave me life divine 
And might to quicken and constrain 
Each soul that in its life of pain. 



PABT I.] TANNHAUSEIt. 35 



Is born anew of love and thrilled 

With sense of that glad beauty which hath filled 

With worshippers of mine the old dead years. 

But hearken thou whose god of tears 

Hath on thy shoulders placed his cross, 

Hath made thy life but bitter loss, 

oMhf^'"*' Hath given the sword hilt to thy hand, 

Kight. And, it may hap, the will to understand 

Such spirits of the night as now I bid thee hear, 

Though they are ever loathsome, full of fear, 

For me and mine. 

TANNHAUSER. 

If thus men suffer, thus must I ; 
Bid them compel me, though I die. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

omfi'nilii Now let the spell be said ! 

stSggie. Spirits of struggle dread, 

Spirits of fear ! 
Ye whom the strong obey, 
Ye who on earth hold sway, 
I bid you here ! 

I see you rise from the endless past. 

Phantoms dire and shadows vast, 

Born of fear and primal night ; 

Lords of the battle plain. 

Rejoicing above the slain. 

Driving the flight ; 

Forging the captive's chain, 

Mockmg Love's might. 



36 



TANNHAUSER. 



[Pabt I. 



Through earth's ages ye have wrought 
In hard heart and cruel thought ; 
With word and sword ye smite, 
Till with fire and blood and dearth 
Ye rule the ravaged earth, 
Hiding heaven's blessed light, 
Giving wrong its will of right, 
Making love of nothing worth. 

Speak at this soul's desire, 
Spirits of blood and fire. 

Spirits of strife ! 
Tell him the mystery 
Of the sad world's history; 
Of death and life! 



The Devas 
Answer, 
with such 
Wonderful 
Words of 
Old Time 
as Arjuna, 
the Son of 
Kunti, 
Standing 
in his War 
Chariot, 
heard of 
Krishna, 
Slayer of 
Madhu, 
Urging hira 
to Battle 
Against his 
Brethren. 



VOICES OF THE DEVAS. 3 

Grip hard to thy sword hilt; 
Strike sure with the blade ; 
Shrink not for the blood spilt, 
For war is thy trade. 
Thy pain or foe's pleasure, 
As he lives or thou diest. 
Are one as they measure 
The thought of the Highest. 
The groan of the dying, 
The joy of the fight. 
The triumph, the flying. 
Are one in his sight. 
As the harp to the player 
Gives two sounds in one strain, 
So the sword and the slayer 



PAET I] TANNHAUSER. 



Are as one with the slain. 
Knowing this, O believer! 
Thou attainest the calm 
Where Brahma is Siva 
And Siva is Brahm. 

Let not thy hand falter, 
For good or for guilt. 
For he is the altar, 
The blood that is spilt ! 
He is victim and fire. 
He is measure and mete ; 
The wife on the pyre, 
The corpse at her feet. 
He is end and beginning, 
The gi'eatest and least ; 
He is virtue and sinning. 
He is hunger and feast ; 
He is joy, he is sorrow. 
The first and the last. 
He was the tomorrow. 
He still is the past. 
Knowing this, O believer ! 
Thou attainest the calm 
Where Brahma is Siva 
And Siva is Brahm. 

He is law through all ages, 
He knoweth no rules f 
He is wisdom with sages ; 
He is folly with fools. 



38 TANNUAUSEE. [PART I. 

He is not, yet existeth ; 
He eludeth all sense ; 
He dies, yet persisteth, 
He is Thither and Thence ! 
His mind is the leaven 
Which bringeth to pass 
The earth and the heaven. 
As shadows in glass. 
Thine action he dreameth. 
Yet with evil 'tis fraught; 
The world as it seemeth 
Is deceit of his thought. 
Knowing this, O believer ! 
Thou attainest the calm 
Where Brahma is Siva 
And Siva is Brahm. 

All things he doth fashion ; 

From all things he is free. 

Cleanse thyself from ail passion ; 

Be as selfless as he ! 

Let thy soul, from this hour, 

Be with thought of him rife. 

As thou givest a flower 

Or takest a life. 

Remember, in doing, 

That doing is vain ; 

Forget not in pursuing, 

That pursuing is pain. 

Grip hard to thy sword hilt, 

Strike sure with the blade ; 



Part i.] TANNHAUSER. 39 

Shrink not from the blood spilt, 
For war is thy trade ! 
Doing this, O believer ! 
Thou attainest the calm 
Where Brahma is Siva 
And Siva is Brahm. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

This wisdom is not mine, but so, it seemeth me, 
The god who slayeth gods and men, must be. 

TANNHAUSER. 

J?s1nge?" Thou hast called these voices from the deep 

will not 

Die Be- belOW : 

cause of ' 

Sim. They have no power upon me, for I know 
They are the falsehood of the lowest deep, 
Where subtlety of knowledge, serpent-wise, 
Borroweth truth of heaven to make it lies. 
From its dread snare my soul I keep ; 
And keep it living. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

I have given thee love. 
Mightiest of all the powers of heaven above ; 
Such love as ruled the younger years of earth, 
Life-giving love that for immortal birth 
Stirred the dead dust to quicken and to change 
From death to life through all the boundless range 
Of things create through all the centuries of time ; 
I have made alive for thee all thoughts sublime 
That the dead vears had covered with their dust ; 



40 TANNHA USER. [PART I. 



But still thy stubborn soul withholds its trust 
x\nd draws apart from mine. Have then thy will ! 
But go not yet, for there remaineth still 
A stronger voice of knowledge and a mightier spell 
Than any known to spirits of fair hell. 

TANNHAUSEU. 

Though by its power my soul were hurled 
Unto the last abyss, still must I hear ! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Then call the knowledge of thy painful world, 
If thy rash soul holds not Hell's beauty dear! 

TANNHAUSER. 

My harp is silent and my strength is sped ! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

My spell prevaileth but upon the dead 
Of the dead world that owned me for its queen. 
On thy new earth whose life is poor and mean, 
I have no power where souls own not my sway. 
But still the power is thine and thine the loss ! 
Speak thou the spell ! Conjure it by thy cross ! 

TANNHAUSER. 

By the cross of the sword hilt, 
By the stain on the blade ; 

By the pain of all blood spilt 
For sacrifice made. 



Part i.] TANNHAUSER. 41 

I conjure thee, if thy soul 

In pain had its birth, 
That thou answer to my soul, 

Thou soul of the earth! 

THE CHIEF OF THE MAGI. 

Though a thousand years as a day and a day as a thous- 
and years 
Pass swift or slow in the darkness, enshrouding the 
lives of men, 
Shall their souls be free of their tears or shall old things 
pass away; 
The unknown, shall they ever know, and the lost, 
shall they clasp it agen ? 

In the darkest hour of the midnight I have wrought 
with a magic spell 
To fathom all secrets of silence in the black abyss of 
the past ; 
From the fiends of the nethermost hell and the spirits of 
heavenly light 
I have striven to wrest the secret of the meaning of 
life at last. 

I have spoken the word of power, and amid the smoke 
and flame 
Of the magic circle of incense I have prayed a fearful 
prayer ; 
I have called the Unspeakable Name ; for the eternal 
space of an hour 
I have dared to escape from Time as none other soul 
may dare. 



42 TANNHAUSER. [PART I. 

Though the Master Fiend to my call came humble to 
be my slave, 
With knowledge of all things done in the darkest pit 
below, 
Though I conquered the might of the grave, and made 
it to my might thrall, 
It was vain, for the dead know naught that a living 
soul would know. 

From the brightest beams of the sun when it dazzles the 
eye at noon, 
I have wrought with a mightier spell to give my freed 
soul wings ; 
I have heard the celestial time, I have seen the wonders 
done, 
When from the night of the universe harmonious order 
springs. 

All the secret lore of the sky, and the soul of the darkest 
deep, 
I have made as one with my soul in its struggle of 
awful dread 
To wake from its mortal sleep, to live as the gods on 
high, 
Breaking Time's shackles of dreams, and rising as 
one from the dead. 

Though the insect's wings in the earth for a season gi'ow 
strong, till at last 
He is moved to creep from his cave and to measure 
his might with the sun, 



PABT 1.] 



TANNHAUSER. *3 



Till, borne in the ether vast, he scorneth the dust of his 
birth, 
Yet his v/ings fail soon and he falls, and his life with 
his flight is done. 

As the ant's wings fail as he strives, so failed me the 

might of mind ; 
The power of my magic was vain, for the gods bowed 

not to my spell ; 
So I turned me again to my kind and lived all their little 

lives, 
Till I saw they were fain of their dreams ; that their 
living and dying was well. 

Then in visions of things to be, the soul of the world I 

saw, 
The soul of the world made man when the humblest 

child is born. 
And I learned of a mighty law that bindeth to set men 

free. 
Though forever they break it in hate and spurn it 

forever in scorn. 

To the Child Divine I knelt with gifts I had held most 
dear. 
With myrrh and all precious things wherewith my 
magic had wrought ; 
I bowed to the Child in fear as the awe of its soul I felt, 
In its soul at one with the gods, the secret of life I 
sought. 



44 TANNHA USER. [PABT I. 

For I saw the Child was King and Lord in the House 
of Life, 
Anointed in right of Heaven and crowned with a 
heavenly crown ; 
I freed my soul from its strife and I heard the Seraphs sing 
Their songs of power and praise as Heaven's hosts to 
the Child bowed down. 

In visions my sight grows strong till the centuries as a 

scroll 

Spread out before mine eyes writ o'er in letters of fire ; 

While eons eternal unroll, all the story of woe and wrong 

I see with the sight of the Child and I read the world's 

desire. 

I see through the blood and the tears, the labor and pain 
of life. 
The Child as the King of Men, his forehead crowned 
with their thorns ; 
Pierced with the thorns of their strife, his heart thrust 
through with their spears, 
While with spittle they foul his face, the King whom 
their purple adorns. 

I see him, their King, with breast bared, press forward 
to take the blows 
The despot deals in his might to the weak who may 
not resist. 
When none others their shields interpose, or to plead 
for the helpless have dared, 
He has bared his breast for their shield, and the blow 
of their tyrant has missed. 



PART I.] TANNHAUSER. 45 

I see him on gallows and cross, in pain of their pri,30ns 
and whips, 
At the stake in the torture of flame and scourged 
through all lands with their rods ; 
Crucified with their gall at his lips, the gall of their 
bitterest loss, 
And rising forever their King, their Lord and the 
Lord of their gods. 

Though a thousand years as a day and a day as a thous- 
and years, 
Pass swift or slow in the darkness, enshrouding the 
lives of men. 
Through his pain he will free them from tears, through 
his right shall their wrong pass away ; 
By his might the unknown they shall know, and their 
lost he will give them agen. 

I, the Chief of Chaldeans, have seen such visions of 
things to be 
When the Child's star rose in the East, and the Child's 
soul mastered my soul ; 
I have known what the centuries mean, and the Truth 
that maketh men free 
I have read in the letters of flame that are writ on 
eternity's scroll. 

TANNHAUSER. 

The voice is mighty and my soul hath heard, 
But of its meaning I have known no word, 
Save that it calls me hence ! 



46 TANNHA USEE. [PiLBT I. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

9S Wouldst thou leave 

cimgeth to ^^^ Y^ho havc loved thee, here to giieve, 
Lone as I was amid all dead things drear, 
Before thou earnest alive my life to cheer 
With life of thine, and with thy living might. 
To give me once again divine delight 
Of conscious godhead, as when I on earth 

Was glad with gladness of its teeming birth? 

* 

TANNHAUSER. 

heTf^om**" So must it bc ! A charm than thine more strong 

Calleth me to earth to meet its wrong, 
With all the power God gives to sword and song. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

herGreaf^ Havc I uot showu thcc bcauty, given thee light? 
mmwrrd. Called fairest forms for thee from out the night 
That reigns eternal in Time's void? 

TANNHAUSER. 

Aye, till my living soul was cloyed 
To weariness of life in death with thee. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Thou ne'er hast loved me if thou wouldst be free! 



TANNHAUSER. 

?o Abiliiug Had I not loved thee, then thy spell 

DelVood-' Were vain as vainest dreams of this, thy hell ; 

head. ,, , . • i • • i i 

But all thy wme is bitter in the leas 



Part I.] TANSIIA USER. 47 



As brackish water in dead seas, 

And all thy love is deadlier than death. 

I fain would draw once more a living breath 

With those who live, that I may weep their tears, 

fj'rcon?'* Rejoice in all their joys, feel all their fears, 

wIthTiving Sharing the light and darkness of my kind ; 

Souls of his IT- 

Kind. I3ut thou hast touched mme eyes and made 

them blind 
With darkness of the mockery of light. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Thou mockest me for I have given thee sight 

of^DSd*^ For things unseen, above the sight of mortal 

Wisdom. I 

eyes I 
With wisdom of the dead I have made thee wise ; 
And thou wouldst leave me ! 

TANNHAUSER. 

lli^J^ What hast thou given 

.un.igi. 'Yh^i I should lose for thee the light of heaven. 

And gladness of the day from night new-risen ? 

Thy gifts have made my soul a prison 

That none may enter ; that I may not pass ; 

And I, within its narrow bounds, alas! 

Am shut alone. Is there a greater woe. 

Of all lost souls in living death may know, 

oAho^^°^ Than this, the woe of self, in self contained, 

Avh^ein Prisoned and bound, with stronger shackles 

his Soul is 1 . -I 

6hut Alone. chauied 

Than bands of wroughten iron ? 

I am alone : 



48 TANNHAUSER. [Pakt I. 

In all the universe, though I should groan, 

There is no spirit answering back to mine 

With sigh for sigh. Though light divine, 

With all the message of the blessed stars. 

Should shine its way through prisoning walls and bars 

To bid the captive soul rejoice, it still were vain. 

And all the light of it a blinding pain. 

Were it for me alone. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Lament of Thiukcst thou I kuow uot paiu } 

Queen t t t 

Venus i was L-OVC 1 

in Memory 

of iierLiv- J -^as bom of the sun and the sea ; 

ing God- ' 

head. J brooded above the plain ; 

My heart was the heart of a dove. 
Earth's first fruits were first fruits of me. 

My voice was the whisper of rain. 

I was May ! 
I laughed in the April showers ; 
I stirred life in the seeds again ; 
I banished the winter gray ; 
All mine was the gladness of flowers. 

I smiled in each floating cloud, 

I was Life ! 
My bounty made glad the earth ; 
It hymned me its praises aloud ; 
Alive and with joy of me rife, 
Divine and teeming for birth! 



Pari l] 



TANNHAUSER. *^ 



The world to my worship bowed, 

I was Joy ! 
I painted the songbird's throat: 
With my beauty all things I endowed, 
That love might never cloy, 
My voice was the ringdove's note. 

My voice was the voice of the dove ; 

I was Death ! 
I learned of live joy how to weep, 
For I saw that death was love ; 
I had breathed it on earth with my breath, 
Naught living for life might I keep. 

I gave, for love, to man, desire ; 

^ I filled his heart with heavenly fire ; 

sh^^gaveT J g^^g j^.j^ ^^j jj^y craft and skill ; 

I taught him cunning of the lyre, 
That he with love might work his will. 
All treasures of rich Nature's hoard, 
Before his feet I freely poured, 
That he of love might learn his fill ; 
Yet still his hand would grasp the sword ; 
^'^^}¥ . For love's own sake, he learned to kill. 

naraihooa -^ ^ t i i. 

of Men. Thinkest thou I know not tears } I have wept, 

Seeing fairest things of earth o'erswept 

With flame in fiercest fire of fight, 

Till all the world was bitter in my sight 

With lust of cruel men, and wrath 

Of deadly war, encumbering'all the path 

My feet had loved to tread along bright streams. 



The Gifts 



60 TANNHA USER. [PAKT I. 

Cool-murmuring at sultry noon, when gleams 
Though moving shade upon the river's breast, 
The roving sunbeam in his amorous quest, 
Straying in love for something fair to kiss ; 
Yea, all the paths that I for bliss. 
Taught men to tread with me, I have seen 
Made wild with war and fierce with flashes keen 
Of deadly swords and the far-flying spear. 
Till love and hope were molten into fear. 

?th^h^*"* I have seen Scamander's tide 
the*Brave. Roll red with blood unto the bitter sea ; 
I have wept when Hector died, 
Wept with Andromache 
That he, for Fate, because of me. 
Bravest and gentlest of the brave. 
Fighting in front of home should die. 
Bleeding and pale with anguish of the grave, 
Prone in foul dust should lie ; 
While with exulting cry 
A victor, godlike, fair and strong, 
With heart untaught to feel. 
Bound his pierced feet with cruel thong 
Unto his chariot wheel. 

oMh?"^'^ I have looked on Naxos' strand, 

When swift the ship spread all its wings of sail, 
As a white bird, loosed from the hand, 
Flying before the gale, 
Leaving the maiden pale, 
To wake and weep her woe alone 



PAKT I.] 



TANNHA USER. 



M 



For pain of her false lover's guile. 
I have heard Ariadne's moan; 
I have seen false Theseus smile ; 
A traitor, shameless in his scorn, 

Of her who gave him all, 
Leaving her there, fair and forlorn, 
To Bacchus, for his thrall. 



And the 
Loss of the 
Loving. 



I have made myself a strain 

Of love upon the lyre to set love free ; 

I have felt my poet's pain, 

For lost Eurydice, 

Beloved of him and me ! 
Fair as the morn, lost from the light, 
A faded star at break of day. 
We v^ent to seek her in the night. 

Where wandering, gray, 

The shadows stray. 
My strength divine to him I gave ; 
Alas, in vain our charms ! 
We came again up from the grave 

With empty arms. 

fhe^Minnl^ I lovcd and wept and wrought 

pam ofher To make men gentle as my thought ; 

Go'dhfad. I taught them love ; they would not learn ; 

For they were hard, and Fate was stern 

And mightier far than I. 

The love I gave, they turned to lust. 

As groveling creatures of the dust. 

I was not theirs ; they were not mine, 



Si TAXNHAUSER. [PAST 1. 

For they were earth and I divine, 

Born of the sea and sky. 

So weak was I, so strong was Fate, 

They made my glad world desolate 

With woe of the infernal night ; 

A place where Furies might delight 

In bitter scorn of me. 

For death was stronger far than love ; 

Hell sti'onger than the Powers above ! 

Vainly men decked my fanes with flowers ; 

They gave their hearts to the dark powers, 

Alecto and Tisiphone. 

VOICES OF THE PIT. 

Jrt%e Tisiphone! Tisiph6ne! 
pc^auitr Our mother, low we bow to thee. 

Weeping. -r-,,, i titi 

Full many a heart, all adder-eaten, 
Foul with the slime and grume of fangs. 
Drips, drop by drop, its blood to sweeten 
Thy stygean feast with human pangs. 
Though brighter gods are dead long eons. 
Scattered their fires, unsung their pasans ; 
Thy sway, begun when Time had birth. 
Ends not, till from the weary earth 
Passes the last of human mould. 
With time itself in death grown cold ! 

The small, curled serpents of thy hair, 
Thy chosen messengers to men, 
Sibillant, whisper of the share 
Thou givest them of thy kingdom, when 



PART I.] TANNHAUSER. 53 

Their punier gods to thee make way, 
To thee, our Mother, ancient, gray. 
Whose hissing hair and serpent goads 
Thy children urge to bear the loads 
Placed on them by thy slaves, the Fates, 
The sisters three who at thy gates, 
Sit, night and day, to twist and spin 
The threads all lives are woven in. 

Tisiphone ! Tisiphone ! 
Our mother, here are hearts for thee ! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Thou dost hear voices of the deep below. 
What they have said I fain would know. 

TANNHAUSER. 

And knowest thou not ? Canst thou not hear ? 

QUEEN VENUS. 

They are not voices of my sphere ! 

TANNHAUSER. 

Then I thy soul from them will keep. 
Lest they thy heart, as mine, should tear; 
Lest thou again shouldst learn to weep. 
No pitying tears but tears of dark despair. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

hJar^he Take UD thy harp ; sing me a song of love. 

Harp of the c J r ^ o o 

Miiir.e- 

6in?:er. 



54 TANNHAUSER. [PART 1. 



TANNHAUSER. 

I will essay before I go above, 

The pain of parting on its strings to tell, 

That thou mayst know, of truth, I loved thee well. 

ttfolm-'" Farewell! Farewell! 

Beauty! Daughter of sun and sea, 

Fair and white as the foam, 
Divine Aphrodite ! 

With thee I may not dwell ; 
My soul must seek its home. 
Farewell ! Farewell ! 

Farewell! Farewell! 
Thy love was passing sweet ; 
The bright gold of thy hair. 
Enmeshed me at thy feet. 

With thee I may not dwell, 
Thy grace I may not share 

Farewell! Farewell! 

Farewell! Farewell! 
Daughter of sun and sea! 
Bitter thy love as the brine. 
Thou sad Aphrodite ! 

Though fair is all thy hell, 
Loose thou thy soul from mine ! 

Farewell! Farewell! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

cfmgeSto Thou shalt not leave me ! 

him. 



Part i.] 



TANNHAUSER. ^^ 



TANNHAUSER. 

Nay, I must! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Wilt thou return to earth to mingle with its dust? 

TANNHAUSER. 

He thrusts Q Queeu ! my sword is at my side ; the cross is 

Ss^iis on its hilt 

^'''''"" In token of the Calvary where God's own blood 

was spilt. 
Against His foes I girded it, to free His blessed grave, 
But I have lingered here with thee, unto thy power a 

slave. 
I raise its hilt before thine eyes, I charge thee by its cross, 
Undo thy charm, unbar thy gates, turn not my soul to 

dross. 
I must return unto the earth in spite of all thy spells, 
Lest I should die before thy face and sink to lower hells. 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Adjure me not. I had no power 
To hold thee here from that sad hour 
When thou didst take thy sword again. 
Against its hilt my charms are vain. 

TANNHAUSER. 

Unbar thy gates ! 

QUEEN VENUS. 

Thou hast thy cross. 
Though hell revolted at the loss. 
Its gates before that sign must open wide. 
Go thou alone ! I may not guide ; 



56 TANNHA USER. [PAKT I. 



d?win But if thou hast on earth no place, 
withaiiThe From man no ruth, from heaven no grace, 

Light and . . , in 

Beagy^of Here must thou come agam, with me to dwell, 

To share my lot and loneliness of hell. 
Now art thou free. There lies thy way. 



TANNHAUSER. 

The way is dark. There is no gleam of day. 
ne^sln^S'is Gonc is the splendor of infernal light ; 
speakabie' My soul is left eushrouded in its night ; 
o/^heDead Though faircst falsehood I was strong to spurn, 

'Tis but to feel its light to darkness turn. 
Its dreams of power and beauty vanish all : 
Upon my sight its blackest shadows fall ; 
Hell in its joy and glory doth depart 
But that its terrors may possess my heart ; 
Hard though I strain my eyes into its gloom 
It shuts me round as an eternal tomb ; 
Before my feet, its vast abysses yawn, 
Endless in night that knoweth not of dawn. 
Thou blackness of the past Eternity ! 
What is thy secret? Speak! I call to thee! 

VOICES OF DEAD YEARS. 

uJniSgoV When passeth breath, 
pa^stf'"°*^ When clods cumber, 

Cometh then slumber, 
Eternal in death ? 

Does it sweet lethe bring, 

Nepenthe for every sting, 



Part i.] 



TANNHAUSER. ^7 



When passeth breath, 

When clods cumber? 

When shuts the coffin lid, 

Ends there all sorrow ? 

Dawns any morrow, 
For him neath the cerements hid ? 

To his heart do furies fierce 

Hurl snakes to gnaw and pierce ? 
Closes the coffin lid 

On unending sorrow ? 

When rank the grasses grow 
To moulder and die, 
Where unremembered lie 

Whom men no longer know. 

Have they risen, winged and fair, 
Clothed in the sun's bright hair, 

Though, all forgot, they lie 

Where rank the grasses grow ? 

Give answer, all ye graves, 

Dread secrets hiding! 

On your breast abiding. 
Finds man the rest he craves? 

Or comes rest, never ? 

Lasts pain forever ? 
Give answer, all ye graves. 

Dread secrets hiding ! 



68 TANNHAUSER. [PAKT I. 



iTANNHAUSER. 

Them one ^^^ lig^^^ o^* darkncss, on whatever name 
Voices of Of hell I call, this answer, still the same, 
Light. Mocks all my sense, back echoing from the void, 
Where over all the lives and days destroyed 
Of Death, Death reigns in fulness of his might. 
I am thy captive! Speak, thou king of Night! 
Pervading and overshadowing all its space. 
What were thine answer if I asked thy grace ? 

THE VOICE OF DEATH. 4 

cSeth I am the Lord o'er thee, 
^^' The lord of all! 

My might thou canst not flee. 

A house for thee I build. 

Come, that it may be filled ! 
Hearken my call ! 

Homeless } Nay, say not so. 

Thou hast a home. 
Though driven thou mayest go, 
Through the world from door to door, 
Though ragged, wrinkled, poor, 

Wide thou dost roam ! 

Yon pile, and thou its lord ? 

To dwell secure, 
Safe in its marble ward, 
Vassals for thy behest, 
Samite upon thy breast ? * 

Death cometh sure ! 



PABT 1.] TANNHAUSER. 69 

Whether born thane or thrall, 

Think not to slight 
Homes that I build for all ; 
Lady fair and lord and churl, 
Beggar brat and heir of earl — 

All I invite ! 

I build no palace high, 

With arch and nave ; 
Close to thy breast shall lie 
The roof, all dark and damp. 
There shines not any lamp. 

No banners wave. 

There thou thy friends shalt feast. 

True at the last ! 
Though those, who should the least, 
Loathing turn and leave thee there. 
For feast-mates have no care : 

The worms stay fast ! 

With them I shut thee in. 

In dark and cold. 
Nor unto thee shall the din 
Of joyous music, clashing spears. 
Feasting, wailing, song or tears, 

Pierce through the mould. 

TANNHAUSER. 

Sye^'thkt If all the darkness of the black abyss 
Deaths Spoke with one voice, what were it still but this ? 
Thou King of Shadows ! speak unto thy slaves ! 



€0 



TANNHAUSER. 



[PAUT 1. 



I face thee here, where thy unnumbered graves 
Lay hold upon my soul and set a snare 
To trap my forward feet, if I should dare 
To backward turn and from thee flee : 
Yet my soul liveth still and will be free. 



And 
Heareth 
Heavenly 
Voices. 



VOICES FROM ABOVE. 

Call thou on the Holy One, 
The Blessed, the Lowly One ! 

And be thou free. 
Ask and receive thy sight ; 
If thou canst see aright. 
Even in hell's dark night 

Is light for thee. 

Turn to the Crucified ! 
It was for thee he died ! 

Thine was his pain ! 
Thy pain he still doth bear ; 
Thy sorrow still doth share ; 
Take up his cross of care ! 

Be free again ! 

TANNHAUSER. 

Hia Vision Yca, uow in very deed 

Truth that r^ i • i j. • ^ • i 

prevaiieth Comcs light mto mme eyes I 

over all . . 

Hells. 1 hear the tauntmg cries ! 

I see Messias bleed 
With the stab of the thorns of his godhead's crown. 

Blood mingles with spittle of shame on his face 

As he taketh as king his royal place. 
While the might of the world bows in mockery down. 



Part i,j tannha user. 61 

The Lord and Giver of Light 

Over every world doth reign ; 

Yet he beareth the shame and the pain, 

He turns them his cheek as they smite. 

They have smitten his face with buffets that bruise ! 

They have dragged him, bound, to Caesar's chair, 
That the lords of the sword may judge him there, 

While the priests of his temple stand forth to accuse. 

He came a God of tears ; 

He came to teach them to weep ; 

His truth they will not keep ; 

They encircle him round with spears. 
As he standeth, the King, at the judgment seat, 

The Lord of the Sword, who sitteth thereon, 

Asketh he for truth in sorrow or scorn ? 
Truth, bound and captive, keepeth silence as meet. 

He came a God of grief 

To deliver them of their pain ; 

Is infinite pity vain ? 

They love better a robber and thief. 
They love better Barabbas, the Lie ! 

They spit the Truth in the face ; 

They shame it of all its grace ; 
They receive it — to crucify ! 

I see them in corselet or gown, 
Leading the rabble-rout ; 
I hear the noise of the shout ; 
The King still weareth his crown ; 



62 TANNHAUSER. [PjLKT l. 

He weareth his crown of thorn ; 

His feet are sore on the road ; 

His shoulders bow with their load ; 
He beareth their sin and their scorn! 

They have nailed him with nails to a cross ; 

They will pierce his side with a spear ! 

Of falsehood they have no fear ; 

They count Truth gained for a loss ! 
See how he loveth them all ! 

He moveth his lips in prayer ; 

They laugh to see him there ; 
They make bitter his lips with their gall. 

They know not mercy or ruth ! 

His hand bleedeth sore round the nail ; 

His heart is sore as they rail ! 

They cast lots for the garments of Truth ! 
They give up Truth's garment to chance ; 

That perchance it may cover a lie ! 

They wag their heads and pass by. 
Let them pierce his side with the lance ! 

Let them pierce with their lance his side, 

Lest he live and their falsehood be vain ! 

Let them strike for the ending of pain, 

Since they suffer not Truth to abide. 
It is finished ! He boweth his head ; 

Incarnate no more is Truth's ghost. 

Let darkness bring fear to their host 
That Truth at their hands is dead ! 



TANNHAUSER. 



PART SECOND. 



ARGUMENT. 

The Trusty Eckert, that same angel who keepeth 
ward at hell's mouth, being called before the keeper of 
the lowest kingdom of the heavens, telleth how it had 
fared in hell, and how on earth, with the harp and sword 
of the Minnesinger. And at the tale, there is discourse 
of son'ow and high hope in heaven. 



TANNHAUSER. 
(The lowest kingdom of heaven.) 

SIMON BARJONA. 

The Master j^q^ f ares it With that soul of fire I sent to hell ? 
Kdom Hath he learned all its secrets ? Knoweth he well 
|?K- That pain of it and all its falsehood's leaven 
beare'^rthe WTork but to purify and fit for heaven 
mr* Live souls who love their life and choose not 

death ; 
Knowing Truth for life and falsehood for a fleeting 

breath ? 
Gave he for others all the Lord did give 
Of might within him ? 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

He still doth live. 

SIMON BARJONA. 

And he shall live, though earth and hell shall cease ; 
I know him for a soul of truth and Truth will give him 

oeace ! 
Though bound with nine-fold fetters of the lowest pit, 
Loving the Truth, he will be free by might of it. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

The Angel He hath sought Truth and loved it. In its might 

of Earth is"*^-^ ^ ri.i*l4- 

sfilnce. He broke hell's gate and came up from the nigiit. 



68 TANNHAUSER. [Pakt II. 

SIMON BARJONA. 

And thou? How hast though kept him? Hast thou 

taught 
The soul redeemed with blood of God and brought 
To life from death? Hast thou been ever at his side, 
Unseen, to give him strength and all his steps to guide ? 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

5h*thr*^' I ^"^ unworthy, here, to take my place, 

sa'dness'^: O keeper of the keys ! before thy face. 

All thou hast given, to me, to him I gave, 

A heart for truth and courage to be brave. 

He hath been brave. Strong with thy strength, on many 

a field 
He foremost bore the cross upon his shield ; 
The sword thou gavest, in his hand. 
Struck sharp for truth in many a land. 
Much hath he borne ; well hath he wrought 
With warrior's blow for noble thought; 
Yet in the world his strength might not avail : 
He wrought and suffered but to fail ; 
For men received him not. He hath been driven 
Back into darkness of his sins unshriven, 
Leaving the world grown worse than when he came, 
With purpose high, to strive in it. Be mine the blame ! 

JOHN, THE BELOVED. 

sto^^by Though the world knew him not, the Lord will 

the Cross \zY\r\-ixr 

Cpmlorteth KUOW, 

When once again he cometh here below 
To seek his own. Thou hast done well, 



Part n.J 



TANNHAUSER. 



If thou hast kept thy charge unto the gates of hell. 
Though we be weak, God's love is strong and will not 

fail ; 
Then say not thou, work wrought in love doth not avail. 



And 
Blessed 
Women 
Sing for 
the Drying 
Of Tears. 



A BLESSED WOMAN. 

There is no truth but this : 
In love alone is bliss 

Though love be pain. 
All else but love shall fail ; 
Love shall o'er all prevail ; 

No love is vain. 

Though now we love in tears, 
In the eternal years 

Tears shall be dried ; 
Wrong shall with hate depart, 
Until in every heart 

Love shall abide. 

Love from the universe, 
Driveth the mortal curse. 

No more shall strife 
Fill all the world with woe ; 
Love is hate's overthrow ; 

Loving is life. 



JOHN, THE BELOVED. 

B^foved Though the Lord's power o'er all the earth, 
mSon Be given to thee, of better worth, 
ofW^eys And better strength his flocks to keep, 

in Love ^ ^ t p \ y 

and Hope. Yet cven as thou, strong shepherd of the sheep, 



70 TANNHAUSER. [Pakt il. 

And keeper of the keys and sword, I know his will : 

When Ihou with love and peace dost fill 

The world, then will he come again ; 

Then war and woe shall cease, and ruin and pain ; 

And he will dwell on earth and we will see his face. 

Nor shall there be for sorrow any place. 

If I remain until he comes, it is his will ; 

Thou lovest him well, but though thou strivest, still 

There is no peace on earth for all thy might 

Of keys to keep and swordblades flashing for the right. 

SIMON BARJOXA. 

Kelpeir*^ When we had found a soul of truth, thou gavest 

the Keys. 

song; 
I gave the sword of truth and made him strong 
To wield it for the right, as is most meet 
To bring the rebel world unto his feet, 
Who died to save it. For this I know, 
Though sharp the sword of truth and biting in its blow, 
To all who love and live a lie, a deadly pain, 
Yet every stricken lie is still Truth's gain. 

JOHN, THE BELOVED. 

3?fhr^°°^ God reigns, and God is love ; we wait the end 
theGrieiT Of falschood and of hate. But thou didst send 

A soul of love to hell to know all lies ; 
That knowing them and in the knowledge wise, 
He might be brave for truth, and in its might 
Wielding the sword he girded for the right. 
Might win against the power of lies ; and stiong, 



PABT 11.] TANNHAUSER. 



?1 



Smite with the steel's edge the world's wrong, 
World-old, wrong heaped on wrong and hate 
Of God and love. How he did fare, 
Let now thine angel tell unto whose care 
Thou didst commit him. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

Sadness the MuSt I rCvicW 

Earth 

io^idnot In heaven old grief of earth and make it new 

H^vrn!" For blessed souls who, dwelling here on high, 

Know not the earth, nor see its woe as I, 

Who dwell hard by hell's gate to watch and warn, 

Perchance to save, souls lost, forlorn. 

And wandering from the light of life and love ? 

Must pain of earth below be pain of heaven above ? 

A HARP PLAYER. 

5?/stery of Thc joy of thc cross is to weep with the weeping ; 
tJWorid's Yvom old pain of the world was the Christ- 
child born ; 

The crown of the cross is a crown of thorn ; 

Heaven holdeth no woe of earth in scorn ; 
The full tale of all tears still the skies are keeping. 

For the grief of the earth the Master is grieving ; 
We know all his love though we see not his face ; 
We stand at his beck in the market place, 
Waiting his work and the word of his grace ; 

We will garner his grain as it ripens for sheaving. 



72 TANNHA USER. [PART H. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

TTie Curse Whcn hcll's rcluctaiit gates swung outward at 

the sign 
His sword hilt bore to conquer hell in strength of truth 

divine, 
Hard grasped within his hand he held the cross of steel ; 
No more as I had seen him enter there, a harper glad, 
►Singing a May-time roundelay, but sad 
With lore unspeakable, hell taught his soul to feel. 

And so, with bow'd down head and silence on his 

tongue, 
Forgetting all glad songs or sad, he of old time had 

sung, 
With soundless harp, he left hell's gate and wandered 

wide ; 
With music banished from his soul for weight of deadly 

sin; 
With eyes turned ever to the woe within ; 
Alone, though I, for love, was ever at his side. 



The Bur- 
den of 



Mightily on him Truth's burden lay, and driven 
Truth. -g^ p^.j^ ^£ j^^ j^g ^^jj ^^ priests his tale, but still 

unshriven 
As one 'accursed and foul with stain and curse of hell. 
They drove him forth until he came unto the highest 

place, 
Where sits supreme the keeper of heaven's grace. 
With power to bind and loose on earth, or ill or well. 



Part n.] TANNHAUSER. 73 

nSfg^o?" When he had told upon his knees, Truth* s 
Sake. secrets dread, 

They cast him out with trebled strength of curse 
upon his head ; 
That he through all eternity should bear his grief, 
Despairing for a sin hell wrought, the cross might not 

atone. 
Wandering through all the world alone. 
Finding in hearts of men nor pity, nor belief. 

que^st^^*"' From CaBsar's city, pealing to its Roman sky. 
For victory won, its psalm of praise, fierce as 
a battle cry. 
He turned his face and, toiling slow through ways of 

gloom. 
Sought the famed city where the mighty Prince of Peace 
Bore pain divine that mortal pain might cease. 
And there he strove to kneel before Immanuel's tomb. 

kig'out' They knew him for accursed, nor suffered him 

to pray 
For pardon at the tomb wherein that holy body lay. 
But followed him with blows beyond the city's gate. 
That he might bear the curse and die alone, with none 

to bless 
His parting soul in pity's graciousness ; 
So had the holy curse turned all their souls to hate ! 

^Ge^h-^" He found the dark Gethsamene, and bending 

Bamene. ^^^^^^ 



74 TANNHAUSER. [PART n. 

Kneeling with light gone from his soul, he prayed a 

bitter prayer, 
That he might cease and be as one no more alive 
In earth or hell or in the endless universe. 
Since from his soul the weight of sin and curse 
He found in all the earth nor power nor will to shrive. 

SS'the' And all his bitterness the hoary cedars knew, 

With branches sighing soft above and weeping 
down their dew, 
For pain a living soul in pang of death must bear ; 
Struggling the power of hell to flee, and finding on the 

earth 
But hate, or worse than hate, love's dearth. 
When overtaken by the last, supreme despair. 

S\hf s"fr. Then broke above Golgotha's waste a darkling 

cloud. 
And shining down with light of love, a bright star sang 

aloud 
The song all stars sing as they shine upon the place 
Where God's eternity, for love, bore all the pain of time ; 
I would my tongue could utter that sweet chime 
Wherewith all shining stars do thank him for his grace : 

But 'tis a song, as yet I have no skill to learn, 
Though the soft light of it doth all my soul to sweetness 

turn ; 
For I of love learned hate on earth and with hard blows 

of steel 



Pabt II.] TANNHAUSEE. 75 

I thought to judge in His truth's cause and battle for 

His right 
Until at last I fell in front of fight, 
For joy of fight, forgetting Him and all love's weal. 

S'cfivary. And as the bright star sang, a low and whisper- 
ing breeze 
Sighed from the Holy hill and stirring soft among the 

trees, 
Bearing sweet incense of Arabian spice and balm 
Wherein Immanuel lay in death, tuned to faint sound 
The chord of love he on his lyre had bound, 
And with the sound there came upon his soul deep calm. 

The^Break- ^^d all the thrcc-fold curse was gone ; and 

the Ban. i • ■> , 

light 
Came back into his soul again, and three-fold for the 

right. 
He felt within him stir once more the warrior's strength 
All strong souls feel to suffer in the world through all 

their days, 
Heedless for Truth's sake or of blame or praise. 
And brave to live and strive for right through all life's 

length ! 



The Oath 
on the 
Crosshilt. 



on'th?**^ And as a soul new-born in the dark garden's 



shade, 

To live for Truth he swore before the cross his sword- 
hilt made ; 
Then rising with a purpose high and heart made strong 



76 TANNHAUSER. [PART U. 

With strength of truth, he clasped once more the cross- 
hilt in his hand 
To smite for Truth where'er in any land 
He found the might of lies and binding chains of wrong. 



StuJT^'o'f And thus from out the garden dark I followed 

t^eLyre. j^j^^ 

Even as the darkness disappeared in light of morning 

dim, 
To be throughout the world his angel and his guide. 
His step was firm, his arm was strong, and all his soul 

was fire. 
But in the garden gloom he left his lyre, 
Remembering but the sword he girded at his side. 

MAETYES OF THE STAKE. 

Witnesses Man makcth his heart a grave, 
fhTwoHd" Fulfilled of foulness and lust; 
Truth 8 He hideth the truth therein ; 

Sword- ' 

st?iv7th. H^ maketh his soul a slave ; 

He bows as a slave in the dust ; 
He bows as a slave to his sin ; 
He putteth in it his trust ; 
He worships his sin as a god. 
Its feet with swift vengeance are shod ! 

He setteth his sin on a throne 
In his heart's most secret place ; 
He buildeth an altar there ; 
He worshippeth there alone ; 



PAKT II.] TANNHAUSER. 77 

He prayeth his sin for its grace ; 

He maketh his life a prayer 

For favor before its face ; 

He bends as the craven doth bend. 

Sin's vengeance his heart shall rend! 

As a worm, it shall feast and feed ; 
It shall feast and wax fat on his heart ; 
Till his life is but bitter breath 
And more bitter than death the greed 
Of the worm that will not depart, 
Till the end of its gnawing is death ; 
Till his soul is the corpse of a soul, 
And hell's pyre, thereof, is the goal. 

A SCAFFOLD MARTYR. 

witoess M?in maketh Truth's words a cowl, 
Scaffold. WThen the face of his sin waxeth foul, 

To hide it away from his sight. 

Lest he lose therein his delight, 

For its face grown loathsome and pale, 

He weaveth a beautiful veil, 

A veil of most fair deceit 

With words whose sound is sweet. 

He hideth his thought therein, 
Lest his thought be pain of his sin , 
Lest Truth should put him to proof, 
He weaveth in warp and woof, 
Fair words for a covering wide. 
The face of his sin to hide ; 



78 



TANNHA USER. 



[Past il 



With words for Truth's woof meant, 
He weaves till Truth's colors are blent, 
In shimmer and sheen for his darkened eyes, 
With falsehood's warp in a web of lies. 



Goodness 
Whereof a 
Blessed 
Woman 
Witnesseth. 



A BLESSED WOMAN. 

The soul of a child is God's soul ; 
He maketh it perfect and whole ; 
He brings to its making perfume 
Of flowers the whitest, most rare, 

The odors of lilies in bloom, 

The breath whereof is a prayer 
And a song of praise on the Easter day 
When April's love giveth life to May. 

The thoughts of a child are the shower 
Wind blown from the trees in flower, 

The music whereof is mute ; 
Mute music sweeter than sound 

Of petals hiding the fruit ; 
That the fruit may the more abound. 
Till kissed by the wind the petals white 
Fill the air with their joy of the sun's glad light. 

Who hath known the soul of a child. 
The soul holy and white, undefiled, 

A beam of the upper sky, 
A ray from God's throne of light. 
Shining clear in the world of night, 

Shining calm as a star on high 



Part ii.] 



TANNHA USER. 



79 



That for love of the peace of the still lake's 

breast 
With the soul of the lake shares its heavenly 

rest ? 

A HARP-PLAYER. 

The Heart ^he flov/cr in deep wood secret springing 

of a Harp- ■•• ... 

GiX'' Hath a note of music upward rnigmg 

Thereat. ^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^^ ^.^^-^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^f bl^g, 

And heaven the wild flower's music knew 
When, the mother's heart of its pain beguiling, 
It fashioned her first born's face for smiling 
With the smile of the soul that from its sod 
The wild phlox in fragrance breathes up to God. 
Let him who is weary for woe of his sinning, 
Who faileth in fight where failing is winning, 
Pray thus in his soul for a new soul's birth, 
For the soul of the flower clmging low to the earth, 
For a soul as humble, as sweet, as mild, 
As the awful soul of a little child. 

A BLESSED WOMAN. 

In Time's most holy hour, 



The 
Blessed 
Woman 
Knoweth 
the Soul of 
a Child, as 
the Harp- 
Player 
Knoweth it. 

He 

As 
He 
As 
He 



God took the soul of a flower, 
A flower wherein life's dread 
Had paled with white the red ; 
gave it a faith as deep 
the heart of the sea asleep ; 
gave it a hope as high 
the utmost star of the sky ; 
mingled life with death 



80 TANNHA USER. [Pakt II. 

When He breathed on it with His breath ; 

That it might gi'ow divine, 

He took the salt sea's brine 

For tears more bitter than gall. 

With pain he quickened it all, 

And a sweet, sad mother looked down and smiled 

For a new soul born with her little child. 

MARTYRS OF THE STAKE. 

S*stake°^ Yet, alas, for the evil of time ! 
swo?d's The earth reeketh foul with crime ; 

It assaileth the heaven with lies, 

And the ti'uth it crucifies ; 
We have suffered on earth for Truth's sake ; 
We have witnessed for Truth at the stake ; 
In the powxr thereof, for its name, 
We gave up our bodies to flame ; 
We bore it our witness in fire ; 
Our souls mounted up from the pyre 
To witness before God's face. 
That the world refuseth His grace ; 
Men bring Truth's witness to naught; 
Their lives with falsehood are fraught; 
They know not mercy or ruth ! 
Let him strike with the sword of Truth I 

JOHN, THE BELOVED. 

Bdoved Yc feel Still in your souls the old pain of the 

Disciple . ^ « 

gpcaketh stake I 

Let love work His will on earth for Truth's sake ! 



PAKT n.] 



TANNHAVSER. 81 



'Twere better that, for Truth's sake being here, 
Ye from your souls should purge out all the fear 
Lest Truth for might of lies and wrong may fail. 
And listening learn if by the might of swords Truth 
may prevail! 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

Witness of What availeth the blow of the sword of the brave 
loSF Since 'tis vassal to death and bond-thrall to the 

Against the ^ 

Sword. grave r 

With ages unnumbered the earth groweth gray 
And changeth no whit from the primal day, 
When, as judge for its right and lord in its wrong, 
It fashioned the steel for the hand of the strong. 
With gold or with iron, with force or with fraud, 

Through the breadth of the earth, strength still is the 
lord ; 

It buildeth the scaffold, it diggeth the grave. 

It forgeth the fetters for weakness, its slave ; 

Wrong still is raised high. Right ever brought low. 

With fraud of fair word or force of foul blow ; 

By the steel of the sword blade, the blood offering spilt 

Is the worship Strength gives to the cross of the hilt ; 

The force that sustaineth the steel blade to draw 

Is priest of the altar, is judge of the law. 

To the cross of the hilt, raised in Triumph's red hand. 

Men bend low for worship in "every land ; 

The voices of singers sound sweet in its praise ; 

His psalms for its glory the harp-player plays ! 

What availeth the blow of the sword of the brave. 

Since 'tis vassal to Death and bond-thrall to the Grave? 



TANNHA USER. [PART n. 



QeS8. 



A BATTLE MARTYR. 

^nd'lon'" ^ prayer for the silenced tongue ; 
tor^*^k-' A song for the conquered cause ; 

For deeds by no singer sung ; 

For the sword Right vainly draws ! 
A song for the smitten mouth ; 
A song to bless and to curse ! 
As the storm winds blow from the south, 
So, Lord, be Thy power in the verse ! 



Since through the primal night in all Thy spheres 
Broke Thine own light to show the need of tears, 
Bless every tear, O Lord, that ever fell 

From eyes of them who loved their home and land. 
Though they were blinded eyes that wept not well, 
Knowing naught of blessings hid within Thy hand, 
Yet bless such tears ! 

Since first the silent worlds broke into sound, 
That out of silence, praise might more abound, 
Bless every sound of prayer and faltering song 
From lips of all who loved the land of birth ! 
Though song and prayer were earthen, of the earth, 
To Thy pure ears a weakness and a wrong, 
Yet bless such sound ! 

Since first the right hand grasped the patriot steel. 
To teach to bleed the hearts that would not feel. 
Bless every blade forged to defend a home, 

So but its blows were hard and sharp and sure ! 



Pakt II.] 



TANNHAUSER. 



83 



Though noise of them broke through Thy heaven's 
calm dome, 
And broke Thy law that teacheth to endure, 
Yet bless such steel ! 



The 

Scaffold's 
Witness, 
for the 
Silent, in 
Prayer and 
in Curse. 



A SCAFFOLD MARTYR. 

A curse from the soul of the dumb ; 

A prayer for the slave to pray ; 
That the night may break into day ; 

That Thy kingdom, Lord, may come! 

A curse on the venal tongue ; 

A curse to silence its sound. 
Till naught save Truth be found 

In all words spoken or sung ! 

A curse on the greed of gold ; 

A triple curse on its might ; 
Curse it. Lord, from Thy sight, 

With cursings manifold ! 

A curse on the lust of land. 

Till every home be free. 
Till Liberty holds in fee 

What Liege Might grasps with its hand! 

A curse on the sword that is sold ; 

A curse on the pen that is bought ; 
Break them and bring them to naught ; 

Let Thy power be now as of old ! 



84 TANNBAUSER. [PART II. 

A curse on the whitening lie, 
That hides what is foul within, 
Till the charnel houses of sin 

Are fair and false to the eye ! 

While Thy law has a jot or a tittle, 
Through all the length of days, 

A curse on the infinite little 

That worships itself with praise ! 

Curse them with their heart's desire 
Till it purges them from the earth. 

Till it burns and consumes as a fire, 
Nor leaves them for death or for birth ! 

And curse with all Thine order 

Of universal law 
The cause that over a border 

Carries invading war ! 

Curse it with the curse of all blood. 

From the blood, shed of Cain, until now ; 
Curse it with the curse of Thy rood. 

With the curse of the thorns of Thy brow ; 
With the curse of Thine infinite pity and love. 
With the curse of the prayer that ascended above 

From Golgotha's hill, from Gethsamane's garden ; 

With the curse of Thy pain and the curse of Thy 
pardon! 



PART II.] 



TANNHAUSER. 86 



A BATTLE MARTYR! 

Witness of Yc f ools and blind of earth, know ye not yet 

How God's high messenger came to the tomb 
To roll away the stone whereon your seal was set 

In witness that heaven's Truth had not escaped your 
doom ? 

Have ye not seen Her at Truth's sepulchre— 
Her whom no cross of yours shall rob of might? 

Were not your deaf ears smitten with the name of her 
When Liberty came down from heaven, clothed on 
with light? 

She stands with forward foot and backswept hair ; 

With olive crown of peace for all her lands ; 
Her sweet, scarred face is set and sternly fair. 

And fair the flash of naked steel grasped in her hands. 

And will ye stay her ; will ye bind once more 

Her bright, strong body with your iron gyves ? 
For strength of yours, shall her strength cease, as once 
of yore ? 
For might of yours, shall her might fail from all 
men's lives? 

Ah, think it not, for every sigh of hers 
Is answered with a groan in myriad souls ; 

All we. Truth's lovers, are her trumpeters, 

And her alarum shall sound, loud as heaven's thunder 
rolls. 



TANNHA USER, [PART II, 



Now her way lieth forward, and she comes with might 
To hold her steady course unto the end ; 

Highest of heaven's archangels, hers the right, 

And strength of right, whereto your haughtiest heads 
shall bend. 

Stand back, make way, let your ranks open wide ! 

Make broad the path whereon her feet shall tread ! 
Doff the plumed helmet of Oppression's pride ! 

Salute, with lowered standard and uncovered head ! 

A HARP-PLAYER. 

Snce.''' Though thy blade be keen, and thine arm be 
strong ; 

Though thy heart be clean and thy purpose sure, 
Thou shalt win no crown from the smitten wrong ! 

Hold then thy hand, let thy heart endure ! 

For no blow of thine shall the darkness cease 
Ere the morning comes with its light divine ; 

In the stress of the night, keep thy soul in peace. 
In the power of its truth, let thy life's light shine! 

A BLESSED WOMAN. 

jitnesBof ^g ^YiQ shadows in the stream 

Fade in twilight's dying gleam, 
So shall fade and pass the wrong ; 
Good is stronger than the strong ; 
Naught by Eternal Wisdom planned 
Can craft of thought or might of hand, 
Can cunning word or rending blow. 
Avail to change or overthrow I 



PART II.] TANNHAUSER. 87 



AN ELDER 

str^n'^h^®' Though we may not as we would, 

and Sweet- /-^ i 1^1*1 1 

noes. Goodness maketh evil good ; 

Though we grope with blinded sight, 

Light from darkness bringeth light ; 

Foul is ever changed to fair ; 

Loathsomeness to beauty rare ; 

Peace prevaileth out of strife ; 

From the grave upspringeth life ; 

The oppressor's strength shall feed the grass 

Whereon the slave's freed foot shall pass. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

It^HeU'i' "Tis not for earthly souls, as I, 
To know the secrets of the sky. 
Whose endless worlds are thoughts divine ; 
The struggle of the earth is mine ; 
And on the earth, Truth's warrior vainly fought; 
Vainly with word and sword he wrought 
To free the shackled limbs and fettered mind ; 
Where'er he raised his voice among his kind, 
They scorned him. In the press and throng 
Of busy cities, where, in currents strong, 
Flow tides of men with wreck and wrack of souls, 
Sport of wild waves and prey of hungry shoals. 
None stayed to heed Tru-th's prayer or threat; 
For one, for all, the task was set ; 
For one, for all, the task the same, 
To win or bread, or gold, or fame ; 
Minds, bodies, hearts, were bought and sold, 



TANNHAUSER. [PART n. 



The price of souls was paid in gold ; 

They worship gold ; the thousands cry : 

" 'Till we have gold, Truth is a lie!" 

Ten thousand thousand echo still : 

" Give us but gold to work our will ; 

Speak not of Truth till we are fed," 

Satiate with gold or fame or bread ! 

Strength hath wrought steel free limbs to bind ; 

Gold is its shackle for the mind ! 

A MAETYR OF FA^IINE. 5 

AgS Go, now, ye rich men, go ! 

Weep ye and howl for the woe, 

For the woe to come and the wrath ; 
For rust is on all your gold, 
It shall change to dross in your hold, 

And Vengeance waits in your path. 

For your gold, the canker and rust ! 
For your purple, the moth and the dust, 

In witness of greed and of sin ; 
Ye have had all your heart's desire ; 
It shall eat in your flesh as a fire, 

For wrath is the ti'easure ye win ! 

Sabaoth's God hath ears; 

He bends Him down and He hears 

The clamor of them and their groan, 
The clamor of them who reap. 
Who earn but may not keep, 

Since 'tis ye who garner alone! 



PART II.] TANNHAUSER. 89 

Ye have feasted upon the earth ; 
Ye have fattened upon its dearth, 

Against the day of the slaying and sword ; 
Ye feed your hearts with pride ; 
Ye wax haughty as ye abide, 

In the strength of the gold ye hoard. 

For your gold, the canker and rust! 
It is foul with the blood of the just, 

The just ye condemn and have slain ; 
Ye have struck though they might not resist ; 
In your days ye do all as ye list, 

And ye count as ye list for your gain ! 

O brothers, be patient awhile ; 
Be it yours to suffer and smile, 

As ye wait on the Lord and His day ; 
Lo, the soil tiller waits for the fruit ; 
He waits and his patience is boot 

For the rain of December and May. 

Then stablish ye all in good heart ; 
Play ye out each in patience his part, 

Since God's day cometh sure and is nigh; 
Be ye silent and suffer, nor groan, 
Nor grudge ye against your own ; 

For there is One who judgeth on high ! 

The pity-full Judge hath heard, 
Though silent, ye spoke no word ; 
He hath watched both early and late ; 



90 TANNHAUSER. [PAKT U. 

As a merciful God, He hears ; 
He keepeth the tale of your tears 
And cometh a Judge to the gate ! 

A BATTLE MARTYR. 

rScI'*'" Who hath shortened the arm of the Most High 

God? 
Who hath broken or taken away His rod 
That any should venture His wrath to brave, 
Scorning Him as a phantom who can not save 
For pity of hunger's anguished groan? 
Is the Highest deaf to the widow's moan? 
When the fatherless cry, hath He no ear 
That strength may mock Him and know not fear? 
Shall the souls he created in Liberty's right 
Be bartered for gold within His sight; 
Shall the limbs he made free wear any chain 
To dwarf and maim, and His wrath be vain? 
He hath given the steel for the hands of the brave ; 
May its edge be keen until no slave 
Beareth shackles of iron or law or gold ! 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

Je^/gJ"^* Alas, for blinded breasts, and evils manifold! 
Mouth Though the heavens be aflame with glorious 

What availeth its blaze for the darkened sight? 
With dazzled vision and painful eye 
The weak soul turns from the glory on high ; 
When sword-flames of truth the skies illume, 
It seeketh for solace, its kindred gloom. 



Pakt II.] TANNHAUSER. 91 

Though this one stand or that one fall, 
Their common darkness is over them all ! 
For victor and vanquished on battle plain, 
Their wrong and oppression alike remain. 
For wrong still triumphs on either hand ; 
For Truth borne back at the edge of the brand, 
Stills its faint voice 'mid the clashing of spears, 
Till Freedom fails from the later years 
As, since oldest time, it is wont to fail 
When Right is wagered where swords prevail ! 

JOHN, THE BELOVED. 

^f lJv?^^ Man's soul is his own, not another's ; 

and Justice /^jiii i lit 

(jod maketh each mansoul alone ! 
Whoso smiteth the wrong in his brothers 
Falleth, smitten by wrong of his own. 

A HARP PLAYER. 

Whereof a ^jj ^^ world is bcautiful, and sweeter 

Makltii Far than strife of word or sword is south wind 

Music. 

sighmg 
Low in tune with summer song in changeful 
metre, 
When the heart is glad for summer born, or 
sad for summer dying. 

Whoso will may have a heart at peace and brighter 
With the glory of the sky whose sunshine falling 
On the pool's breast, tunes all harmony of gray to 
lighter, 
For unison with touch of heavenly harps, when 
heaven the soul is calling. 



93 



TANNHAUSER. 



[Part n. 



Whoso will may have a soul whose living sparkle 
Giveth back the light as ripples give it, leaping 
For the sun's kiss, when round rocks they flash and 
darkle, 
Changing murmurs mto music, making melody of 
plaint and weeping. 

Whoso will may turn his thoughts to glorious beauty ; 
Live his life in tune with cadenced song of planets, 
sounding 
As they roll sublime, the music of man's duty. 

Moving darkened souls to be at one with law of 
love abounding. 



A Child 
Soul 
Knoweth 
tlie Mean- 
ing of the 
Harp- 
riayer 



A CHILD SPIRIT. 

The days run out, the years depart 
In ever lengthening chain of time ; 

All things grow old except the heart 

Where Truth with Love keeps tuneful chime ; 

Sounding above dead days and years. 

Good deeds make music of the spheres. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

The music of the world is as the loud uproar 
Of surf-white sea waves, tossed upon the shore 
In clamorous strength and clash of lightning- 
riven night. 

When flame-cleft blackness mocks the straining 
sight,- 
Wh m with the screaming blast and thunder's peal, 
The heart in terror faints and ail the senses reel. 



But the 
Angel of 
theEarth 
Loseth the 
Harmony 
of li. Be- 
cause of 
Uproar of 
the World 



PABT II.] 



TANNHAUSER. ^3 



In war of wave on wave, the world soul, wildly swayed, 
Breaks on the barriers where its stormy strength is stayed. 
The mystery of the meaning of its mighty tempest throes, 
He, the Maker of all seas and souls, and Lord of 

Tempests, knows ; 
I know not and it is not mine to seek. 
What heaven's archangels dare not speak 
Save to high souls who, suffering and strong. 
Have borne and braved and overcome the wrong ; 
Whatever Heaven reveals, whate'er it hides. 
Peace cometh sure for him who in its will abides. 
But the spirit of man is troubled as a wave of the sea, 

wind-driven ; 
His soul is the soul of a soldier, whose casque by the 

steel is riven ; 
He is pressed by his life, as in battle, where the long 

lines scatter or thicken. 
Deserting or guarding the standard, where the faithful 

strike and are stricken ; 
With clangor of blows of iron, with clamor of groan and 

shout ; 
With gnashing of teeth and foam, blood flecked from 

the parched lip's drought! 
His And ever the brave are outnumbered, and ever 

■Witness 

TrSiTis the Right is borne down ; 

Overborne. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ p^j^^ prcvailcth, and wresteth 

from Truth her crown. 
As the clouds of evening redden, as the sun sinks low 
in the West, 



94 TANNHA USER. [Pabt n. 

As ebbeth the noise of the battle, so cometh the warrior's 

rest; 
He faints and falls in the combat ; his old wounds open 

and bleed ; 
He is foul with the grime of struggle ; his strength is 

weak at his need ; 
He fails and falls as the oak falls, by the might of the 

blast overthrown. 
He fails and his strength is futile ; his life and his deeds 

unknown, 
Swallowed up in the storm of the world soul, as the rain 

drop whelmed in the wave, 
So is whelmed the Truth in the world storm ; so f aileth 

the might of the brave ! 

A SCAFFOLD MARTYR. G 

SriM?ght' -A.S the warrior, for his cause, 

of stricken -t-tr i i i • 1 i 

Truth. Weakly his dagger draws. 

On the lost field. 
When his foe's resistless strength 
Through his breast, a cloth-yard's length, 
Drives lance with blow of grace, 
So doth Truth the victor face ; 

It may not yield ! 
As with the strength of ten, 
Writhes up that warrior then. 

In last appeal ; 
Writhes till the lance shaft breaks, 
Then fierce his answ^er makes. 

Steel back to steel ; 



Part ii.] tannhauser. 96 

So answereth stricken Truth, 
To its foes who know not ruth ; 

Mortal its blow ! 
Heaven's strength is in its groan; 
Mightiest, when overthrown. 

For wrong's overthrow! 

A CHIEF OF ELDERS. 

ofEWeM God's love pervadeth all heavens ; in the utter- 

Witnesseth, , i ii tt* 

lest for most hell His grace 

Sake they Would fill lost souls with unspeakablc peace, if 

Imagine ^ ^ ' 

^""'*^' they made for His love a place. 

He hath breathed a spirit in man with pain of His God- 
head rife ; 

Each soul is, as His soul, alone, and one for death or for 
life; 

Without Him, it may know no other, without Him, It is 
lost from the light. 

Made one with eternal darkness, swallowed up in the 
endless night, 

A self in its own soul's prison, forging stronger its 
fetters and bars 

To bind it away from the sun of heaven and the glad- 
ness of the stars ; 

Blind in its gloom infernal, speechless in heart and 
tongue. 

It would not hear, though for its ear, all songs of all 
skies were sung. 

If it quicken a mortal body, it giveth no life save breath. 

For Self is its name, its all in all, the end whereof is death. 



96 TANNHAUSER. [Pabt n. 

God maketh no soul a prison ; each soul is as his soul, 

free, 
Free and alone with all that was, or is, or is to be. 
Free with unspeakable freedom, if it borrow of love the 

speech 
The endless sky, or a blade of grass, a child or a flower 

may teach ; 
Alone, and knowing no other, save in pain of another's 

pain; 
One and at one with all other, if it love and be loved 

again. 
Love is its life and language, giving its dumb lips sound ; 
Love's pain is its ear's ephphatha ; in love, are its 

chains unbound. 
Hath one soul shackled another, against love's will and 

might ? 
With the judgment it judged, it is judged again; its 

hate is its own life's blight! 

A MARTYR OF SERVICE. 

Jf i?lf Grod hath fashioned no soul for bondage ; He 

hath made man upright and free ; 
He hath given him light of heavens, and fashioned him 

vision to see. 
That he might be his own soul's keeper, turning ever 

towards the sky. 
As the flower head turns to the sun's face, seeking 

strength from the glory on high ; 
Rejoicing in heavenly freedom, fixing firm its root in 

the earth ; 



Pabt II.] TANNHAUSER, 9T 

Drawing ever from earthly foulness the life for its 

heavenly birth ; 
Bringing out from the earthly darkness, its glorious 

flowers of light ; 
Breathing to heaven its sweetness, living humbly within 

God's sight; 
Dying, consumed of the glory and flame of the sun's 

dread face ; 
Living, and giving to earth again, sown seed for a new 

life's grace. 

A HARP-PLAYER. 

j^oyTnV' What is night or day, 

Sorrow. t ^ 

Joy or sorrow : 
Can I tell thee ? Nay ! 

Thou mayst not borrow, 
Though I lend my store. 

Thy soul is thine, only! 
In thine own life's lore 

Go, enwrap thee lonely, 
Till Sorrow's face of ashes 

Is sweet to thee and dear, 
Till joy has tear-wet lashes, 

Till hope is one with fear ; 
Then for thy heart's new w^orth. 

Heaven's soul may tell thy soul, 
All things are of one birth, 

Perfect, one and whole ; 
The notes of one sweet tune. 

The leaves of one brief rose ; 
And thou wilt read heaven's rune 

In every flower that blows. 



98 TANNHAUSER. [PART n. 

THE TRUSTY ECKERT. 

ofEa^ruf^^ Of hcavcns high mysteries I have no skill, 

cunmng of Nor masterj of its music, though my soul doth 

Music. thrill, 

Pulsing with its pulsation, when the wood doves call 

Mournful and faint, or when the waterfall 

Murmurs far off, as breaks God's glorious day 

Through glodm of forest shade, where earliest sunbeams 

stray 
In leafy coverts, till the stream's dark flow 
Is lightened with the sky and golden with its glow. 
From beauty of the rose, from grace of trodden weed. 
From humblest things of earth, even I may learn to read 
The law of love that binds, through never ending space. 
Each sun to all, each world to its own place. 
All these hath Mercy given my soul to teach ; 
But I am dumb before them and my speech, 
Halts impotent on lips, whereon hath lain 
No burning coal from pyres, whereto as slain 
And sacrificed, all those whom Heaven inspires 
Commit old lives of dross for purging of its fires. 
Lea^inld ^ have Hvcd in the storm of action ; as the 
of^he^ gauntlet fits to the hand. 

Sword. o 1 1 r« T 1 • 1 

bo hath fitted my soul to passion, and my grasp 
to the hilt of the brand ; 
And still for my own soul's purging, I dwell upon the earth 
Where hate is born anew of hate, where strife to strife 

gives birth ; 
As a slave in bonds of heaven, I have watched its 
champions fall. 



Part il] TANNHAUSER. 99 

With broken sword, with riven helm — one end alike for 

all! 
Master of lowest heaven, and keeper of its gate. 
Thy strength dwells not in sword strokes or change of 

earthly state ; 
Not through law of throne or scaffold, canst thou make 

or keep men free ; 
Wherein ]s^q|. through Strength of truth in wounding, 

ea nes8. mayst tliou tcach the blind to see. 

The soul whom thou has gifted with all thy strength of 

sight, 
how!\n*fhe Blinded with blows of battle, hath lost the 

Weakness, blcSSCd light, 

the Minne- 

^^^r Fell He fell. I might not raise him ; and to his 

turned to^ Spirit S Call 

Queen Came swift the Queen of Shadows, whereto 

Venus. 

thou madest him thrall ; 
She came in all the splendor of her glory and her grace, 
And bore him, weak and stricken, to that accursed place 
Where darkness reigns eternal, where sunshine never 

gleams, 
Nor light save of false beauty in glamour of vain dreams. 
Therein I might not enter, nor help his utmost need ; 
In agony of struggle, my voice he might not heed ; 
His hand yet grasps the cross hilt, but its blade which 

thou hast given. 
Broke in the sti'ess of combat, through his foeman's 

corselet driven. 



LOFC. 



100 TANNHAUSER. [PART II. 

MARY MAGDALENE. 7 

of the i!Jst We pray thee, Lord, by thine own anguish ! 
Lo'st.^ Save lost souls in hell who languish. 

Where there's weeping, where there's wailing. 

Where there's torture never failing! 

Save them Lord, of thy great pity! 

Hide them safe in Zion's city; 

Zion, home of grand old David,- 

Tranquil haven of the Saved ! 

Jesus, Light of David's city. 

Thy cross saves us, and Thy pity ! 

SIMON BARJONA. 

^f Truth They wax haughty on earth; they exalt them in 

Defied. r, 

crait ; 
In power Hell's falsehood upreareth its head ; 
But the Highest regardeth ; He hath seen them and 
laughed ; 
He hath mixed the cup, and the wine is red ! 
Shall His strong sw^ord fail for the might of these 

Who trample His Truth, reviling His name? 
Their cup is full mixt ; they shall drink to the leas 
The wine of their sin with the dregs of their shame ! 

JOHN, THE BELOVED. 8 

S^Ligw^ Arise and shine, O Sun of Truth, in the glory 

that Cometh r rr\i • i ^ i 

to Lighten OI 1 hv might I 

all Men. , . -, i • • i i i 

Even now the day is breaking with the dawning 
of thy light ; 
Though darkness cover all the Earth, look down, O 
Lord, and see 



PAKT n,] 



TANNHAUSER. 101 



How they gather for Thy coming, how they wait and 

watch for Thee ! 
From all the isles of sunset, they call upon Thy name ; 
From all the lands of darkness, they wait Truth's rising 

flame ! 
The earth is Thine ! O happy earth ! No more shall set 

of sun 
Leave thee in gloom of shadow, when thy day of toil is 

done. 
In the name of God, the Highest, with His voice my 

tongue doth speak 
To give promise of His freedom, to proclaim to all the 

meek, 
To the humble and the captive, to all in fetters bound. 
That the prison doors shall open, and the grace of love 

abound. 
He is stronger than the strength of swords. He will 

loosen every chain. 
And to bondslaves and their tyrants give liberty again. 
He will give for ashes beauty, for tears the song of praise ! 
They will build up all waste places, all their ruined 

cities raise. 
All the world's old desolations shall pass in freedom's 

day; 
Truth dawneth as the morning ; the False shall fade 

away ! 
The Right shall be the rereward ; the glory of the van 
Shall be the law of liberty in the freed soul of man ! 
No more shall Labor's harvest be reaped by Cunning's 

hand, 



102 TANNHA USER. [Part ii. 

Nor fraud of thought nor force of blow shall rule in any 

land. 
As the Earth from out her bosom brings forth the bud 

and leaf, 
As she ripens in her reaptime her gi'ain's gold for the 

sheaf, 
So shall spring what Truth hath planted, so shall multiply 

her seed. 
So — Sabaoth's God hath sworn it — shall the earth from 

wrong be freed ! 
Arise and shine, O Sun of Truth! let all the morning 

sky 
Be crimsoned with the banners of the hosts of the Most 

High! 
Let Thy light's myriad lances against the night be hurled 
Until oppression's ignorance is driven from the world. 



THE END. 



AN AFTERWORD. 

Winged dreams from dayland and from nightland 

Come ever in tumultuous train ; 
Free with the freedom high heaven gave them, 
Ah, who may grasp or who enslave them 

With linked words fashioned for a chain. 
With dull thought wrought for shackle band ? 

Yet I, O brothers, long have known ye. 
Be ye of heaven, or shapes of night! 

My soul, astray from your dominions. 

Stirs with the impulse of your pinions, 
Struggling to follow in your flight. 

Thrilled with the visions you have shown me. 

But maimed and halt, I may not grasp you. 
Though all the air sounds with your w ings. 

When south his mates the summer follow. 

Wounded and faint, some stricken swallow. 
Deserted, thus his farewell sings, 

As I who dream and may not clasp you. 



NOTES. 

Note 1, Page 13. The Tannhanser legend is almost unique among the 
stories of the Middle Ages. Most of the Mediaeval legends arrange them- 
selves in groups, while it stands alone as one of the first products of the 
coming Renaissance. Blended in it is the thought of two long separated 
and at last reunited peoples of the Aryan stock, the Goth and the Greek, 
and pervading it is the quickening spirit of that Semitic aspiration which 
culminated on Calvary. With this conception of the legend, or at least 
wishing to use the legend as a vehicle of expression for this conception, 
the writer has endeavored to find in the freedom of the Mediaeval 
"Mystery "—a purely Gothic creation— a mode of expi-ession which, not 
uninfluenced by the laws of classic formalism, would yet allow the Gothic 
and Semitic modes of thought the larger liberty of expression they have 
conquered for themselves through their blending in modern civilization. 
He does not claim precedents in the' Medieval " Mysteries" or miracle 
plays for change of metrical form with change of thought, though such 
precedents are not lacking in Gothic and classical literary art. The only 
precedent claimed as authority from Gothic and Hebrew literature is 
that of freedom; and if he has so abused it as to obscure the unity of 
subordinate conceptions with the central and governing idea, the fault is 
entirely his own. W. V. B. 

Note 2, Pages 25, 26, 27, 31. In introducing these imitations to carry 
forward the idea of the influence of the classical culture, the writer does 
not claim to have made translations, though he has followed the first ode 
of Anacreon and the " Solvitur Acris Hyems " of Horace as closely as 
his ability to adapt them to his subject would allow. The authority for 
the "Echo" of Seneca may be found in the beautiful chorus of the 
Troades : 

" Verum est, an timidos fabula decipit 
Umbras, corporibus, vivere conditis?" etc. 

Perhaps the fullest and most forcible poetic expression of old world 
agnosticism. No attempt was made to express anything more than the 
spirit of the lines in the Echo. Something of the same spirit seems to 
pervade the mournful sublimity of the lament of Job which suggested 
and shaped the lines : 

'♦ He hath the skill high souls to fashion, 
He givcth them life with breath of his breath," etc. 

See " Spirits of the Shadow " in the text under this note number (2). 

W. V. B. 



106 170 TES. 



Note 3, Page 36. The authority for this expression of the Indo-Aryan 
pantheism may be found on almost any page of the Bhagavat Gita, which 
60 fully summarizes the results of the severest straining of metaphysical 
imagination that the Brahmics call it *' the pearl of price in the ocean 
of scriptures." Mr. Emerson has made a forcible paraphrase of one of 
the passages used as authority for '♦ The Voice of the Devas " in the text. 

W. V. B. 

Note 4, Page 58. Compare with these lines the Anglo-Saxon fragment 
" The Grave," edited by Thorpe, from a Bodleian manuscript: 

" The wes bold gebyld 
er thu iboren were ; 
the wes molde iment 
er thu of moder come," etc. 

Mr. Longfellow has made a metrical translation of a portion of the 
fragment. W.V. B. 

Note 5, Page 88. The attempt here is to paraphrase the magnificent 
invective of the first part of the Fifth Chapter of the General [Epistle of 
St. James. W. V. B. 

Note 6, Page 94. In the Arthurian legend, Arthur rides down Mordred 
and pins him to the earth with his lance. Thus transfixed, Mordred draws 
his dagger and writhing up on the lance shaft, gives the King his death 
wound. W. V. B. 

Note 7, Page 100. The suggestion here is from the lines of the Mediaeval 

Latin hymn: 

" Tu intrare me non sinas 

lufernales ofilcinas," etc. 

A suggestion of intense spiritual anguish, which in the hymn itself is 
egoistic rather than sympathetic. W. V. B. 

Note 8, Page 100. The prophecy of larger liberty and higher civilization 
here put in the mouth of the Beloved Disciple, is of course familiar to 
all readers of Isaiah and the other great Hebrew poets and prophets. 

W. V. B. 



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